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t O -. C 1 

v • & V t V. 

O U E 

CHILDREN: 

THEIR 

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL 

DEVELOPMENT. 


THE GREAT AIM OF PARENTS SHOULD BE TO RECONCILE EDUCATION WITH 
HEALTH AND HAPPINESS. 


AUGUSTUS E. GARDNER, AX, M.D. 

LATE PROFESSOR IN N. T. MEDICAL COLLEGE ; AUTHOR OF “ DISEASES OF FEMALES," AND 
OTHER MEDICAL TEXT-BOOKS. 


HARTFORD, CONN.: 

BELKNAP & BLISS. 

DUFFIELD ASHMEAD, PHILADELPHIA, PENN.; W. E. BLISS, 
TOLEDO, OHIO; WATSON GILL, SYRACUSE, N. Y; 
NETTLETON & CO., CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

1872 . 


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INTRODUCTION. 


There is no tlieme which comes so near to the universal 
human heart as that which pertains to our children. What¬ 
ever else we may be, rich or poor, patriot or rebel, religious 
or irreligious, moral or vile, pure or foul, sick or well, we 
are all fathers and mothers, or we fondly look forward to a 
time when we shall have our own children to love and care for 
and be anxious concerning. And curious enough too, 
whatever has been our experience in early life, whether 
our origin was humble or lowly, whether we have 
been sickly or robust, whether petted or neglected, we 
all are determined that the lot of our children shall, so far 
as we can effect it, be, in many material respects, different 
from our own. We would gladly screen our offspring from 
such hardships, sufferings, annoyances, vexations, or simple 
neglects by which our early days were clouded, and from 
which our entire after lives were colored and shaded and 
more or less disagreably disturbed. 

We are unable indeed to determine how much we owe 
to nature and how much to education, how much to inherited 
characteristics, and how much to accidental circumstances. 
We are unable to say whether our goodness, such as it is, is not 



vi 


INTRODUCTION. 


solely owing to such misfortunes as chanced to us; and per¬ 
haps all our defects, to injudicious kindness and unregulated 
opportunities afforded for ease and enjoyment. 

We are ignorant, and we confess it, and desire more knowl¬ 
edge. We think, and we read, and we think again. 
We get perplexed with doubts respecting the relig¬ 
ious and moral and intellectual methods of developing the 
faculties of our children. We waver between the views 
of those who advise the largest liberty and the least restraint 
for children, and those who consider the young mind but 
like Plaster of Paris, which in youth should be moulded and 
fashioned and adorned, that thus developed, it may harden 
and solidify and become as universally upright as the ever¬ 
lasting hills. 

Alas for our theories! We find too many neglected, orphan¬ 
less boys, self-developing, attain the highest altitudes of 
humanity, and apparently to the celestial height of spiritual 
excellence. On the contrary, we see the carefully restrained, 
the sedulously instructed, the object of the warmest parental 
prayers and solicitude, spurning all, and casting all good 
examples under their feet, trampling upon virtue and wallow¬ 
ing in the sloughs of iniquity. Thus our theories become 
empty bubbles, our prayers do no further good than, recoil¬ 
ing upon ourselves, to bless and strengthen us. 

We are about to join with the moody, melancholic 
preacher, and say, “Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanitybut 
while the words are upon our lips, we remember that although 
we may not be able to find the hidden springs of the mind 
and heart, we may yet be able to do something which shall 
have a permanent effect upon the child of our deep affec¬ 
tion. We say to our readers, what is mentality without 
health, what is moral excellence without life? We have 
thought of reaching the shadow, let us rather seize the 
substance, without which all is nugatory and imagi- 


INTRODUCTION. 


vii' 

nary. Let ns seek for the physical elevation of our child¬ 
ren. Their health is in no little degree within our power; 
“ it is of this earth, earthy,” and with our finite powers we 
may guide and guard and elevate. Let us devote ourselves 
to this initial duty. Health is the basis upon which all 
else rest. The dispositions, tempers and current thoughts 
depend, in no little degree, upon it. The receptivity 
for truth, the appreciation of excellence, the power even 
of observing goodness and virtue, or judging between right 
and wrong depend upon the condition of our stomach or 
brain; perhaps a persistant neuralgia, may make one a 
bigot and a fanatic; a club-foot a godless, regardless repro¬ 
bate. 

The happiness of our children is then measurably in our 
hands. W e can assiduously guard their first feeble steps, 
we may preserve their faculties intact, their physical con¬ 
stitutions sound by proper care; neglect, may create one 
blind from almost birth, may develop scrofula in blood and 
bone, may invite the very messenger of death. 

Nor while we are thus engaged in this mundane labor, 
need we neglect the more etherial and less certain labors in de- 
veloping the mind and soul. The best of all teachings is 
correct example, and the worst is didactic teachings and en¬ 
forced ordinances. Health is a great prophylactic against 
sin; Few very healthy men are deeply depraved. This 
natural happiness drives away temptation from many / and 
vigor of body is the basis for a robust morality. 


I have been induced to write this present work from an 
idea that the subject of the physical education and devel¬ 
opment of children is not only a very important one, but 


viii 


INTRODUCTION. 


one of very general interest, and upon whicli little or 
nothing has been said. I don’t suppose that everybody 
will agree with every portion of it. Indeed, I don’t care 
if they do not; I have no especial theories to proclaim, 
no pet hobbies to ride. 

What I do desire, however is, to have the ideas enter¬ 
tained and then discussed, contradicted, disproved even, 
for this will imply that they have been thought of, weighed, 
accepted, or what is far better, something more worthy 
accepted iu their place, and acted upon. 

I notice, sometimes, a long string of cars, loaded down 
with valuable merchandize, standing fixed on the track. 
In vain the engineer attempts to force it along in the de¬ 
sired direction, but after futile attempts, he allows the 
train to run back for a distance, before again attempting to 
proceed. All that he wants is some motion, in any direct- 
tion—anything but stagnation. I should not care if my 
ideas and plans are even switched off the track, and more 
progressive thoughts be allowed to pass current; surely 
then I should not object to running back a little, prior to 
the whole train being earned on into general acceptance. 

Let me then hopefully offer this new work to a commu¬ 
nity that has in other directions encouraged me in writing 
for the popular mind, in endeavoring to present these great 
truths of science in simple language, and in familiarizing 
all with information, till lately much hidden in the mys¬ 
terious arcana of learned tongues, professional big wigs and 
gold-headed canes. The public have long claimed the 
right of self education, and to think for themselves. 

More especially is the female mind becoming awakened 
to its responsibilities. Woman justly claims to exercise her 
best judgments upon the ordinary matters of life, and 
surely none are more important than these which are now 
passing upon her attention—that of marriage and the 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


proper education of her children. This volume is offered 
as an assistance in the ordinary walks of life, and with the 
hope that, with the blessing of Divine Providence, it may 
fill a want long apparent, and conduce to the future health 
and happiness of the American people. 

New York, 237 East 13th St., October, 1871. 










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CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


Preliminary Observations ..... 5 

Parental Love and Care for Offspring . . 6 

Importance of Physical Development ... 7 

Health and Happiness of Children ... 8 

CHAPTER I. 

The Highest Type of Physical Excellence . . 16 

Types of Physical Beauty ..... 19 

Exercise and Work Mingled . . . . 21 

Organization of the Body .... 22 

III Health a Folly—Influence of “Isms” . . 25 

Improvements in Medicines .... 31 

General Care for Health ..... 33 

Prerequisites for Health ..... 36 

CHAPTER II. 

Our Physical Heritage ..... 38 

The Mind’s Influence in Procreation ... 41 

Formation of Character ..... 42 

Hereditary Transmissions ..... 43 

Marriage—Whom shall we Marry ? ... 45 

When shall we Marry? ..... 47 

Condition of Parents .... t 52 
Mind Influencing the Unborn .... 55 

CHAPTER III. 

Maternity ....... 67 

The Mother’s Needs ...... 61 

Physical Demands of the Mother ... 63 

Province of Medicine ... - . 64 

A serious Thought for Mothers .... 65 











Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER IV. 


The Proper Nutriment for Children 

The Petted Babe 

Early Government of Children . 

Facts the Mother should Understand 

Disease in the Teeth 

Regimen eor Children 

Candy Eating .... 

The Children’s Table 

CHAPTER V. 

Children’s Clothing . 

Baby’s Dress .... 

Low Necked Dresses . 

Corsets and Hoops 

Shoes and Stockings, etc., etc. 

CHAPTER VI. 


Personal Habits 
Secretions of the Skin 
Cleanliness of the Teeth . 
Importance oe Proper Habits 
Children’s Beds 
Secret Enervating Habits . 

CHAPTER VII.! 


The Grand Changing Periods of Life . 
Great Watchfulness and Care Required 
Manly Aspirations and Characteristics 
Marked Periods in the Female Sex 
Confidential Discourse between Parent and 
Great Physical Changes . . . 

Ailments peculiar to the Sex 
The Impending Moral Change 
The Influence and Duties of the Mother 


Child 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Reciprocal Influence of Mind and Body 

The Mind a Source of Disease 

Subject Illustrated .... 

What Constitutes a Doctor 

Inefficacy of Medicines in Many Complaints 


CHAPTER IX. 


Education of Children 
Training of Mind and Body 
Mental Capacity and Natural Abilities 
Public Schools and School Books 
Proper School Hygiene and Ventilation 
Over Study,—Serious Results Therefrom 


67 

69 

70 
73 
79 

83 

84 
89 


91 

93 

95 

97 

90 


100 

101 

103 

104 

105 
190 


113 

113 

113 

114 

117 

118 
120 
123 
125 


126 

127- 

125 

129 

130 


131 

133 

134 

139 

140 

141 






CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


CHAPTER X. 


Responsibilities and Duties of a Teacher 
The Marking System . . 

Respect to Teachers . . 

Studies should be Made Interesting 
The Two Natures of a Child 
Claims of the Body and Mind 

CHAPTER XI. 

Amusements and Recreations 
Manly Exercises and Out-Door Sports . 
Sports and Exercises for Girls . 
Injurious Effects from Skating . . 

Gymnastic Exercises .... 
Pleasant Thoughts Beneficial to Health 
CHAPTER XII. 
What shall Children Read? 

The Era of General Reading 
Importance oe Cultivating the Habit . 

A True Source of Pleasure 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Home Amusements 

Music—Games—Card Playing 


Home should be Made Attractive 
Dancing—Its Good and Objectionable Features 
Selection of Companions 
Laws of Social Life—A Mother’s Duties 
Private Entertainments 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Habits of the Young. 

Personal Cleanliness 

Care of the Teeth and of the Hair 

Use of Tobacco . 

Spirituous and Vinous Drinks 
Morbid Habits of Mind 
Dreams of Youth . 

CHAPTER XV. 


The Accidents of Childhood and Treatment 
Blows on the Head—Water in the Ear 
Injuries to the Eyes—Freezing the Ears 
Cuts from a Sharp Instrument . 

Injuries from Gunpowder . 

Broken Bones—Injuries to the Head . 
Drowning . 

Burns and Scalds .... 


143 

144 

146 

147 
152 
154 


161 

166 

169 

170 
173 
177 


179 

181 

183 

185 


186 

188 

191 

199 

202 

204 

205 


208 

209 

212 

215 

217 

220 

223 


226 

230 

232 

233 
235 
240 
243 
245 






XIV 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Contagious Diseases of the Skin .... 
Small Pox—Its Description . . * . 

Measles—Symptoms, &c. ..... 

Scarlet Fever, Scarlitina, &c. .... 

Dyptheria—Treatment, &c. . . . 

How Contagious Diseases are spread . 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Enemies to Good Looks ..... 

Pimples, Freckles ...... 

Solar Lenticular Ephelis ..... 

Useful Recipes ...... 

Warts—Skin Deformities—Remedies 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Summer Complaint ...... 

How Caused—Its Treatment .... 

Water on the Brain—Symptoms .... 

Remote and Proximate Causes .... 

Purulent Ophthalmia ..... 

Blindness ....... 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Whooping Cough and Treatment 
Convulsions of Children and Causes 
Different Forms of Convulsions .... 
Symptoms and Treatment ..... 

CHAPTER XX 

Teething, Cutping the Gums . . . 

Croup—Its Symptoms and Treatment 

White Swelling—Its Treatment .... 

Great Advance in Medical Knowledge and Surgical 
Skill ........ 

Mumps—Symptoms and Treatment , . . 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Sleep—Its Uses and Abuses .... 
Especially Requisite for the Young . . , 

When Shall ^Ve Sleep? ..... 
Where Shall We Sleep? ..... 
What Shall We Sleep on? . . , 

Sleeplessness From Disease . t 

What Shall be Done for it? . 


253 

255 

260 

263 

273 

275 

277 

278 

280 

282 

284 

286 

288 

290 

292 

294 

295 

297 

301 

303 

306 

307 

309 

314 

317 

319 

821 

323 

327 

329 

330 

332 

337 

















CHAPTER I. 


NATURE THE TYPE—LIFE INTELLIGENTLY GUIDED SHOULD TEND 
% TOWARD THAT TYPE. 

I Twould seem almost unnecessary to tell an intelligent 
people that health is summum bonum , the brightest 
jewel which physical man possesses. I was somewhat loth 
to endeavor to add a spark to an enthusiasm for health, 
which would seem so perfectly tangible as to out- weigh, in 
the consideration of most men, the perfect gold of moral 
well-being. 

But in looking about me, I came to the conclusion that 
so far from esteeming health more than morality, both 
seemed matters of comparative inconsequence with the 
more glittering virtues of wealth and ambition. 

Beauty I find in high demand, yet I find men and 
women trying to attain it after the manner of certain arch¬ 
itects of low degree—by the application of stucco work to 
uncouth structures and flimsy frames, which the mercy of 
God alone has so far preserved from the just wrath of the 
elements. 

And yet this thing—which I find of so little repute, that 
delicacy is now imputed to all for morality, religion, and 
beauty—is really more essential to the well-being of the 
race than morality, or religion, or genius, or ambition, for 
it is the keystone to the whole social edifice; and without 
it, all your religion, morality, ambition, Ac., Ac., become 
subject immediately to the sway of dyspepsia, and ulti- 


16 


OUR CHILDREN. 


mately to that of a stronger race, wlio may graft upon us 
whatever thing in morals and religion they would. 

National poor health must of necessity produce national 
death—and the death of all things involved in national 
life. 

Cleanliness is next to godliness—hut cleanliness is only 
one essential to health —what health is next to, I leave as 
a conundrum for any Sybil line interpretation. 

But it is not my purpose to write of national decay, but to 
attempt in this volume to show the individual man and 
woman, what is the highest type of physical excellence and 
how to attain it—although I am fully convinced that few of 
you have ever arrived at a realization of perfect health, and 
that most of you are too lazy or too indifferent to attain 
unto it—yet I cannot pay you the poor compliment of pre¬ 
suming that your whole nature has become so impregnated 
with foul humors, as that the desire after health should 
seem injurious, or its attainment, bodily translation, or 
rather disembodiment, a process which ignorance has led 
you to contemplate with terror. 

Man, the type of the Divinity, falls entirely short, as a 
rule, of the ideal; while all else in nature animate or 
inanimate, as a rule conforms to the idea of excellence and 
beauty, as implanted in the breast. That this is so is con¬ 
firmed by a seeming objection, to wit: That while in our 
conceptions of man, there is an ideal perfection in our 
thoughts on nature, we concede perfect fitness and beauty, 
and in our attempts to manufacture an ideal, fall invariably 
into absurdities—magnificent ones to be sure, and some¬ 
times glorified by religious elevation—but still absurdities. 
The jewelled gates of Paradise, and her golden streets and 
crystal river, are faint types of those gates which stand now 
white—now dun—now iris-hued, flashing with colors name¬ 
less, ever changing, inimitable round the high heaven or 


MAN A CREATURE OF CIRCUMSTANCE. 


17 


which now softly open,perchance to let the King of Glory 
in, or fly liorizon-ward or melt into the blue profound—the 
jewels and gold of the Apocalypse are mean before the 
flashing of the midnight heavens, and the crystal river is 
hut glass indeed in the bright waves of the galaxy—the 
paradise of man’s so called inspired imagination, is a dim 
reflection of that glory which surrounds us by night and 
by day. 

We, never having seen perfection in man are content to 
imagine it, while in nature having it always before us we 
invariably demonstrate our incapacity to make, or control 
a universe by arrangements which would result in a general 
chaos. Or it may be, that man being the express image of 
a perfect God, his gropings after the ideal are ever deflected 
from the perfect type by virtue of the divinity that is within 
him. As it is man’s glory snd strength to aspire, so per¬ 
fection works its own ruin, in that nothing is left for 
aspiration. 

As it is man’s glory to seek this perfection, so it is our 
purpose, in the succeeding chapters, to help to the attain¬ 
ment of a component of it—the physical. And while we 
shall seek for physical excellence, it will be found that as 
a corollary, mental and spiritual perfection follow close in 
its wake. It has become more and more certain, as science 
has progressed, that man is a creature of circumstances; 
that he is responsible for the highest excellence compatible 
with his surroundings, it needs no discussion of the per¬ 
plexing theories of volition to understand. But that the 
standard of excellence, physical and moral, is in direct 
ratio with external nature, has been demonstrated by the 
experience of ages and by the pen of philosophers. So 
that if we would direct man to attain excellence, we can 
only show him a standard of it, possible of attainment, 
compatible with the surroundings in which Providence 
has placed him. 


18 


OUR CHILDREN. 


He would be mad indeed, who should hope that the 
inhabitant of tropical Africa might attain the physical per¬ 
fection of Hercules, or the intellectual vigor of Alcibiades 
or Caesar. Yet doubt not, some supple hunter of Ashantee 
furnishes as noble a model to his compatriots, as did the 
noblest Greek or Roman of them all, to the ancient heroes 
and sages. 

It is for us then to take our model, and to select it with 
reference to our own capacities and the adjuncts with which 
nature has blessed us. 

Many a time, reader, you have witnessed specimens of - 
manly, or womanly beauty and grace; you have instinctively 
compared the one with Hercules, and the other with Yenus. 
Here then, are your types, and they are not the dead types 
of a buried race, but living to your appreciation as truly 
as they did to that of the Greek. As they had no exis¬ 
tence for the Greek, save in the imagination and in the 
marble, so—saving your nineteenth century practically— 
doth your imagination picture the hero, and the goddess, 
and the carven stone; verify it, and the man and woman 
before you in a measure approximate to your ideal. 

Herein are you and the Greek alike, but the after action 
is different; the Greek repairs to the gymnasium, you to 
the pie and condiments; the Greek to the bath and strigil, 
but you, my sweet maiden, too often to powder and paint; 
while the Greek (I blame him) would far too often rid 
himself of a puny infant in a reprehensible fashion, you 
consider that Providence, in giving you a diseased child, 
has blessed you with an infant prodigy, and perhaps the 
subject of a Sunday School story. 

You do right, only in so far as you try to expel this pro¬ 
digiousness, or rather monstrosity, by exercise and good air 
and association with rough and vigorous boys. You con¬ 
sider a God-like form, as a gift of Providence and give 


TYPES OF PHYSICAL BEAUTY. 


19 


thanks. But you rarely take the trouble, if the natal 
mechanism has failed to do you full justice, to be as near 
like him as is possible, you, who were intended to be his 
express image. Herein the man whom you complacently 
call heathen, was instinctively, by virtue of no sibyllinic 
oracle your superior in piety. You, are under the scriptural 
injunction. He, was under none save the still promptings 
of the God in him, which impelled him to the contempla¬ 
tion and the imitation, so far as in him lay, of the supremest 
beauty and strength. Actually it has been, and for aught 
I know, is, part and parcel of the faith of some of you, to 
mar that body through ignorance of its best condition, 
while you are mentally and morally incompetent to appre¬ 
hend its fullness and excellence or properly to practice the 
teachings of any system. 

How, is there any good reason why a physical culture, 
and consequent perfection similar to that of the Greeks 
should not take root in America ? And first, let us look 
at the actual facts to which I have alluded. And speaking 
of the Greeks, you are aw^are that the word Greek stands 
for many tribes, whose characteristics were much more 
distinct and diversified than, for instance, those of the 
various states of these United States. 

But the representative types of the Greek are further 
from perfection, in that they express extremes in morals and 
indeed in physique—I mean of course Sparta and Athens. 
In Sparta, physique was everything, subordinating intellect, 
morality, and loyalty even. In Athens, it w r as a means to 
an end. In Sparta, the contemplation of, and satisfaction 
in personal beauty, in its highest developement, supplanted 
all aspiration after an ideal perfection, embracing physical 
beauty, as intensified and glorified by nobility of soul and 
high intellect. In Athens, physical perfection was sought 
not only as a means to the military success and glory of 


20 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tlie Commonwealth, but as an essential to the lasting glory 
of the state, and to conquests which should remain secure 
and valuable, after the minds that completed them had 
sought the companionship of the immortals, and the sound 
bodies had returned to dust. 

Now the characteristics of the Greek mind, as of the 
Greek civilization, were harmony and simplicity. To be 
at one with Nature, to be in harmony with one’s being, 
to conform the inward with the outward perfection, was 
the aim and ideal of Hellenic nature. The symmetry of 
Apollo, and the symmetry of the Ionic pillar were but 
different forms of that physical harmony, which was itself 
but the “ outward and visible form, of that inward and 
spiritual grace,” whose rare sense of proportion modulated 
the chorus, established the dramatic unities, measured the 
hexameter, marshalled the phalanx, and traced the circles 
and triangles of Euclid “ with flawless demonstration.” 
The gymnasium was erected side by side with the theatre, 
the agora and the porch. The conditions of life were simple. 
The people were bare-headed and lived in the air. Their 
wines were pure, their climate even, their cities small. 

“ Fine old leisure ” sat by the fountains in the public 
squares, and work alternated healthfully with play. The 
theoric fund -was a sanitary agent. 

The tobacco, the air-tight stoves, the unintermitting toil, 
the in-door habits, the feverish rush of life, the thousand 
demands on nerve-power and vitality, which our crow r ded 
century makes, were aloof from the calm flow of the classic 
existence. It is now the problem—how to spare time from 
our occupations to develope our bodies, or even our souls 
symmetrically. It takes time to be an athlete, and time 
is money. 

The way in which Dio Lewis would have us spend our 
day, leaves out of the account the peremptory calls of bus- 


EXERCISE AND WORK MINGLED. 


21 


iness. The bath, the dumb-bell, the walk, or row, or other 
daily “ constitutional ” exercise, are religiously kept up for 
a fortnight, till stress of business or change of place, grad¬ 
ually breaks in upon oui bravest resolution, and the rising 
biceps ebbs to its ancient mark, and the chest grows narrow, 
and the shoulders round over the enthralling desk. 

A distinguished professor in one of our colleges, reserved 
one hour a day for exercise. He was persuaded to give up 
this hour temporarily, to the preparation of a work, for 
which his publishers made him tempting offers. That 
hour made the difference between life and death. So with 
short sighted economy, we go on increasing the pressure 
till the brain cracks, or the lungs give way, or we are hope¬ 
lessly dyspeptic. 

Use no stimulants say & Hygiene. But how else shall we 
repair our shattered nerves ? In a thorough, natural, and 
primitive state, we can imagine that a pipe of Virginia 
would simply nauseate our pure and uncorrupted senses. 
“ Think of spoiling the fine elixir of the morning by a 
cup of coffee,” said Thoreau, and so may men say who 
live like him “ close to the bone.” But for us, the laboring 
classes, whether of cities, or of farms, we live an artificial 
life, and need artificial appliances to make it tolerable. If 
our pursuits are too engrossing to allow us to live by rule, 
we must fill the gaps by the best means that we have; some¬ 
thing we need to repair the ravages, which the ideal, the 
Utopean, the perfectly healthful, but impossible existence 
would not have made. 

Here steps in the science of Hygiene. This is the 
province of modern medicine, to teach us how we may 
best apply the rules of health to, large populations, living a 
hurried and laborious life, in a highly artificial state of 
society. 

Medicine is not all remedial. Perhaps its highest func- 


22 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tion is to regulate rather than to cure. In the rudest times 
there was a rough sort of surgery, and a scanty but perhaps 
adequate pharmacopoeia of simples, but doubtless the sole 
rules of hygiene observed, were to avoid poisons and follow 
the dictates of nature. But now that our life conforms so 
little to nature, and now when medicine is emerging from 
the domains of Empiricism, and taking rank among the 
exacts sciences, we may look for its crowning triumphs, in 
those laws of good living, strict but yet practicable, which it 
shall cause to be engraved on the pillars of the market, and 
to be proclaimed as with golden trumpets, that all may see 
and hear and practice for themselves. 

The science of Hygiene as perfected in the schools of 
medicine, while it has opened up the vegetable and mineral 
world, and rendered amenable to the behests of the science 
many subtle essences and potent solutions; while it has 
analyzed the components of the body, indirectly applied as a 
remedy, and practically confirmed the practice with the the¬ 
ory, with results sometimes flattering, sometimes futile; 
has also established the fact, that all the remedies of the 
laboratory, are but accessories to the more important curatives 
which float in the air, and develope mysteriously within 
the body in obedience to the laws of being, before neglected. 
As in a fracture of a limb, the crutch is merely the abettor 
to the gradual renewal, and an assistant in the necessary 
use of the part, so in diseases, do medicines hold but a 
place secondary to the rules of good living. 

This body so exquisitely organized, is also strongly made. 
It is not a frail tenement of the soul, subject to mysteri¬ 
ous and unavoidable forces in nature, that work its weal 
or woe, ad libitum. Its keeping is in a great measure in 
our own hands, as also is its restoration to perfection, if 
shattered by abuse and neglect, provided the foundation 
be not ruined. Some one has called it a crime to be sick. 


ILL HEALTH A FOLLY. 


23 


Complaints against our miserable bodies, are at least ques¬ 
tionable, coming from those, whose money and leisure, and 
daily avocation have been directed to its destruction. He 
who would condemn as a fool, one, who should thrust a 
crow-bar into the machinery of an engine, and attribute the 
result to a fault of the machinery, has no excus e for the 
condition of his miserable body, which after years of abuse, 
he has succeeded in making a nuisance to himself and his 
neighbors. He who would condemn as foolish, the engineer 
who allowed unalleviated friction, to generate a white heat 
in the joints of his engine, considers it hard that the tem¬ 
per of his body and its parts, should fail when subjected to 
unremitting toil. It is time, that the wretched carelessness 
of the body, begotten of medieval notions of the virtue, 
that lies in trials and vigils and crucifications of the flesh, 
should give place to the practice of those far less barbarous 
heathen, who strive for the sana mens in corpore scmo, and 
such is rapidly becoming the accepted belief. 

The “ pale abstemious student,” has given place to the 
“muscular Christian” in our Universities,and the valedic¬ 
torian wdiile equally learned, is less consumptive than in 
the times of our Puritan Ancestors, who were wont to 
speak of their bodies contemptuously, as “crusts”and 
“ shells ” forgetting in whose image they w r ere fashioned. 
But we of this generation go beyond Mollusks and “ think 
nobly of the body.” Our women have begun to recognize 
the truth, that it is more beautiful to be healthy, than to 
be interesting, and as one of the cleverest has wittily said 
apropos of the “ sweetness in womans decay ”—“ that a 
woman ought to be as much ashamed to be dyspeptic, as to 
be drunk;” and as the people conform themselves to more 
healthful, and sensible ways of life, to ventilation, and 
exercise, and well cooked food, the physician’s task lies 
more and more in generalizing the laws of health, in point- 


24 


OUR CHILDREN. 


ing out and locating the harm, which inevitably flows from 
particular transgressions of those laws, and in showing the 
helplessness of remedial medicine, to do more than alleviate 
the righteous visitations of Nature, for such transgressions. 

As the possibilities and limitations of medical skill have 
become thus defined, its ancient pretentions have vanished 
with the dream of the elixir vitj2, and the panacea, and 
have given place to more candid and rational promises of 
what it can effect for man. It employs drugs less, and nature 
more. Instead of wasting its energies in fruitless specula¬ 
tions, as to the nature of the vital principle, or in searches 
after a universal specific, it applies itself more intelligently, 
if less ambitiously, to the perfection of practical surgery* 
and the improvement of special appliances. It has invented 
the stethescope, discovered the virtue of chloroform as an 
anaesthetic, and carried obstetrics to an exact science. It 
pursues its ends, with simplicity and openness, discarding 
that mystery, which is the characteristic of quackery, in all 
pursuits alike, and substituting the language of every day 
life, for the barbarous jargon, which disgraced its ancient 
lore, and made the nobler art of healing, no better than a 
black art. 

"With a view, to spreading a knowledge of its plain and 
beneficent principles, among that community which it seeks 
to bless, it has established able and popular journals of 
health, as well as more technical organs for discussion, 
among its own professors, and has even obtained a foot-hold 
in the literary magazines and periodicals of the day, where 
its contributions, are among the most profitable and readable 
in the table of contents. Many of the abuses of the olden 
practice, have been rectified from outside, and at first hostile 
schools. The followers of Hahnemann and other Reform¬ 
ers and Theorists, at first bitterly denounced, by the regular 
practitioners, have succeeded in modifying the practice of 


INFLUENCE OF “ ISMS.' 


25 


the latter, by the agitation of doctrines, containing with 
much of error, some grains of valuable, and greatly needed 
truths. No one we presume, will deny, that whatever may 
be thought of the truth of the fundamental maxim, similia 
similibus curantur , the profession is more largely indebted 
than they are as yet willing to allow, to the Homeopathists, 
for the reform in the old system of excessive drugging* 
In medicine, as in other departments of learning, the true 
and broad philosopher, will not hesitate to exercise a wise 
election, borrowing from every new so-called school, what¬ 
ever of useful and genuine it has to offer, and rejecting 
whatever is spurious. The phenomena of animal magnetism, 
abused by vulgar charlatans, to trifling or harmful purposes, 
the earnest explorer after truth, will approach with a mind 
cautious, but open to conviction, prepared to wrest from 
the darkest arena of Nature, the precious secrets of healing, 
which may there be found, hidden like diamonds among 
obscure rubbish. 

In like manner, the Hydropathic treatment, the Swedish 
movement cure, the Grape cure, etc. are useful in bringing 
into prominence—a one-sided, and pretentious prominence 
tho’ it be—some neglected, or undeveloped sanitary force, in 
the great repository of Nature. 

Dio Lewis may be called a quack, but he does a valuable 
service to the public health, in calling attention, to need of 
more exercise to prevent physical degeneracy, in an anxious 
and money getting race. 

Dr. Graham was undoubtedly a fanatic, but he aimed 
some heavy blows at dyspepsia. Such men, if not true 
reformers, are at least agitators, and lead people to think 
of their own health and to care for it. Even an experiment 
which fails, is of use. It reduces the field for future errors. 
In this new Country, the physiologists say, a national tern, 
perament or constitution is forming, whose conditions of 
2 


26 


OUR CHILDREN. 


health are different in our dry and nervous climate, from 
the same conditions in the “ rainy isles,” where the physi¬ 
cal type of our Fathers was formed. The mission of 
American medicine, will be the study of the new American 
man—his new diseases, modified nervous, muscular and 
respiratory systems, peculiar strength and peculiar weak¬ 
nesses, and need. 

“Will the coming man drink wine?” is only one ot 
numerous questions, which American medicine must answer 
in reference to that mysterious creature of prophesy. Let 
us hope, that our physicians will display the same originality, 
and skill, in adapting their remedies, and regimens, to altered 
conditions in climate and ways of life, which has already 
placed American surgery foremost in the World ! 

The mention of Surgery, reminds us, that the more rapid 
strides which that branch of medicine, and its kindred 
science of obstetrics have made of late years, ought not to 
discourage us, with the slower progress of other depart¬ 
ments of the healing art. The former, are strictly remedial 
—the relief given by them is immediate, and easily appre¬ 
ciable. The oculist, who removes a cataract, does a seem¬ 
ingly more wonderful, and certainly a more showy thing, 
than he, who, by a gradual and careful treatment of a patient’s 
entire system, diet, exercise, etc. restores little by little, the 
lost usefulness of an eye. Nevertheless, if prevention be 
indeed, better than cure, the discovery of a single rule of 
health, is a more truly beneficent work, than the most 
brilliant operation described in the books. The widest, 
and most practical service, which the doctors can do, is 
to tell us, how we may best live, whether we subsist on 
herbs and water in the woods, or dine out in the cities. 

And here, let us notice one error, as to the proper conduct 
of life—physically speaking—which pervades the writings 
of almost every non-professional writer who touches upon 


AN IMAGINATION ERA . 


27 


the subject of health, just as political philosophers of the 
school called a priori, assume some original condition of 
society, some golden age, from which all others are more 
or less departures, so it is frequently taken for granted, that 
there has at some time been a normal condition of physical 
life, where a rude health was enjoyed by a simple and 
hardy race of men, from whom all modern societies are de¬ 
generate departures. 

Thus, it is assumed, that at some period in the history 
of the race, all men lay down at sunset and arose at sunrise, 
ate only the simplest food, drank only water, obeyed the 
dictates of some mysterious and infallibly wholesome “ Na¬ 
ture,” and that such primitive regimen, was the one most 
calculated to insure vigorous health and great longevity. 

The traditions of every people, preserve the memory or 
the myth of such a period. The Patriarchs lived centuries 
of life. “ There were giants on earth in those days.” 

The habits of animals, are used as a measure of the 
departure of modern ways of life, from that standard which 
is assumed to be the original, normal, natural rule of living 
among men. “ To rise with the lark, and with the lark to 
bed,’’“Adam’s ale,” and other proverbs, and popular ex¬ 
pressions, indicate the constant reference to some ideal 
normal state, when men lived closer to nature, and drew 
their habits from the beasts and birds. 

It is needless to point out to those conversant with the 
facts, the unfounded character of these assumptions. The 
rule of health among lower orders of life, is not the rule 
of health with us. The higher and more complicated our 
organization, the greater our powers and our longevity. 
Neither should we live the life of savages, or primitive 
men. Statistics show, that longevity increases with civili¬ 
zation, instead of decreasing. The Saxon is a healthier 
man and capable of greater endurance than the Aztec. 


28 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Because the sun sets at five in the winter Solstice, shall we 
burn no lamps ? Because the lions drink water, shall we 
forswear our claret ? A drop of nicotine, Mr. Parton tells 
us, will kill a dog, shall the smoker therefore renounce his 
pipe of Virginia? 

The truth is, that the analogy so constantly insisted on 
between beasts or savages, and men of a more delicate, 
more cultivated and far nobler organization, is misleading. 
If the needs of the former are simple, their diseases fewer, 
so are their powers less varied, their recuperative resources 
more meagre, and their whole tone less truly healthy than 
our own. 

The digger Indian feeds on roots and drinks water, but 
the beef-eating and beer-drinking Englishman, out-grows 
and out-lives him, in despite of Dr. Graham and the agra- 
arians. 

By this, I do not mean to defend those clearly unnatural, 
and artificial modes of existence, to which a highly wrought 
state of society often tempts—especially in great cities—• 
absinthe and opium; the turning of night into day; to live 
on one’s nerves, instead of on his muscles and tissues; too 
much of life’s eau de vie and not enough of its milk; too 
little of the ruminant and vegetable existence, which builds 
up great bodies, and too much of the nervous energy, which 
impels them ; these things will soon wear out a race as it 
has the Parisians. In our late war, the troops most endur¬ 
ing of marches, and the hardships of campaigns were the 
City regiments. But we must have the tonic material of 
the country back of us as a reservoir. 

All that I would claim by these observations is, that 
we must not treat ourselves as if living in caves, and feed¬ 
ing on raw meat and ground nuts, nor be always re-seeking 
the lost, vigor of an imagined ancestry of Siegfrieds, but 
find out what regulations are most sanitary for enlightened 


THE PAST, VS. THE PRESENT. 


29 


beings, wlio live in houses of several stories, warmed by- 
furnaces and stoves ; who eat three meals a day with those 
forks, which though made subsequently- to lingers, as the 
proverb tells us, are perhaps as natural to us, puppets^of 
civilization, as the latter. 

Indeed, it is more than probable that modem living, 
artificial as it is, is better adapted to our physical need, than 
the simpler methods of our ancestors. The Bard and the 
Romancistmay extol the annals of past generations, but 
research reveals the fact, that the present race is in the 
main, superior to those gone before. If we look with fond 
retrospect upon the rough, hearty, good old times, upon the 
yule log and the chimney place, the warm hospitality, the 
chivalrous gallantries, of gold and lace-adorned cavaliers 
depicted on fans, and idealized by the poets and extolled by 
our grandmothers; upon the sturdy piety, as well as the 
whole souled conviality; we must not lose sight of the im¬ 
perfect ventilation, the too promiscuous assemblage of clean 
and unclean beneath the hospitable roof, the low ceilings, 
the want of cleanliness, the hospitality which too often 
smacked of debauchery, the rampant quackery which prac¬ 
ticed the “ kill or cure ” system, and sought remedies, not 
for their proven efficiency, but for their known nastiness; 
the piety which formed saints in fanatics, the gluttony 
which satisfied itself, with vast amounts rather than with 
rare dainties; we must not lose sight of these I say, before 
we condemn the age in which we live, as rendering good 
living impracticable, by reason of conditions altered for the 
worse. 

Ours is a time, when old wife’s tales and panaceas have 
given place to science. Are we valetudinarians ? It is not 
in my opinion a bad sign, for it argues that the laws of 
health are beginning to present themselves, as relative to 
all the conditions of mental, and physical, and moral exis- 


30 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tence. We know the prevalence of intemperance; but ask 
some old gentleman, who loves to re-enact his past, in im¬ 
agination, to recount the valorous feats in eating and drink¬ 
ing he witnessed, perhaps around, and upon, and under his 
father’s mahogany, in the old mansion down in Pearl Street. 
Think of the license which exempted not from suspicions 
the most shameful, the highest circles in society. Do we 
lament the negligence of street commissioners ? I doubt 
not there live those who remember our streets as the wal¬ 
lowing places of swine, and general receptacle for garbage. 

Of luxuries we have many, but it is a question if time 
has not hidden many a gross one, and revealed many less 
hurtful. Peacock’s tongues perhaps represented, a more 
far-fetched sumptuousness than pate de foies gras. The 
dining, powdering, late hours, and deep potations of the 
last century were more dissipated, than our own opera 
goings and dram drinking. 

Few people, even among the habitues of our gilded 
“ sample rooms,” and bagnios, nowadays live in deliberate 
disregard of the more obvious laws of health, to the same 
extent, as was done in the court circles of George the 
Fourth’s period. The improvement in common sense and 
simplicity, in the cut of our clothes, and the fashion of our 
landscape gardening, pervades even our extravagances and 
dissipations as well. In many ways, we live more health¬ 
fully and rationally than our “ sturdy ancestors.” Our 
ventilation arrangements are better, we let in more sun¬ 
light on our dwellings, and cook our food better. Our 
wines are less heavily brandied, and our liquors, on the 
whole, are purer, despite the cry of adulteration, and the 
statistics of health commissioners. 

Medicine has exploded numberless abominations of the 
nurses, an ignorant race of tyrants, who abused sick men 
in the early part of the present century, who governed 


1MPR 0 VEMENTS IN MEDICINES. 31 

their treatment by traditionary superstitions, rather than 
by any well-defined principles or medical knowledge, and 
of whom Sairy Gamp is hardly a caricature. 

Patients are now no longer deprived of water when 
suffering from fever, no longer starved when convalescing, 
no longer plunged in cold water for sprains, and cupped to 
death when fainting for want of blood. 

But the “ currents and counter currents in medical sci¬ 
ence,” are constantly shifting. As old diseases disappear, 
or lose their horrors, new and unheard of maladies succeed. 
It is Scarcely credible to this generation, that small pox 
was once such a terrible and fatal scourge, so entirely has 
inoculation stripped it of its prevalent power. 

On, the other hand, the typhoid and Bright’s disease are 
modern scourges, of which our ancestors could not foretoken. 
How mere a name is leprosy! But the yellow fever and 
the cholera, have still a fearful sound to men of this decade, 
even though it is found, that it is but another name for 
filth. Old nostrums have lost their efficacy, and fresh 
drugs have developed unsuspected virtues. Families of 
poisonous plants have become potent agents of healing, in 
the hands of a bold and revolutionary school; many injuries 
once esteemed fatal, modem surgery makes light of. Pha¬ 
raoh no longer heals the grief of a wound, but in place of 
Pharaoh, the young Egyptians fill the hospitals with scalpels 
of a less antique model. The king’s-evil is no more cured 
by a touch of the royal hand, and Iodine and lunar caustic 
supply the place of an invocation. 

In all tendencies, there is great encouragement that the 
laws of health, which for ages since the foundation of the 
Christian civilization, have been scandalously violated, are 
receiving their merited estimation. But these goodly in¬ 
novations, are in great measure counteracted by new and 
peculiar vices. The too painful carefulness for health, 


32 


OUR CHILDREN. 


often begets a mistaken idea of the influence of nature. 
The fear of a cold, impels to an unwise confinement, and 
the dread of wet feet to abstinence from all exercise in wet 
weather. So too, the inference of the monotheists,—if I 
may use the word, as applicable to our modern believers in 
the virtue of one panacea—often tends to a blindness of the 
fact, that certain laws are applicable to certain conditions. 

The efficacy of the cold bath is undoubted, under certain 
conditions of temperament, yet that, which in one case may 
stimulate, in another, may shatter. The use of a simple 
and spare diet, if we may believe these reformers, is the 
one desideratum, the golden rule in matters sanitary. Yet, 
in many cases it will be discovered, that the opposite is the 
real need, and the stimulation of depressed energies the 
only hope. Even in the matter of exercise, there is some¬ 
times danger of excess, as I have too often observed in my 
own professional experience. In fine, the emancipation 
of the generation from the servitude of past systems, and 
its casting off of evil habits, while it has begotten an inde¬ 
pendence, has also begotten with it, an indiscriminate, at 
the same time arrogant, trust in specific systems. “What’s 
good for one, is good for all,” is a proverb, with some of 
our would-be reformers, nor have I any doubt that the 
spread of physiological knowledge, the production of 
greatly preponderating good, has brought with it a dan¬ 
gerous self-conceit. 

From the observance of general positive laws, to the 
application of specifics, is a long and dangerous step. The 
medicine chest, while, as I observed, argues a knowledge 
of medicinal virtues, must in many cases, argue besides, 
an ill-advised application, and an unskillful tampering with 
the system, at times, when rest is the only requisite. 

The medicine chest in private use, is too apt to smack 
of the liberal herb decoctions, with which village wise-acres 
dose their hapless disciples. 


GENERAL CARE FOR HEALTH. 


33 


In medicine, as in morals and politics, it is wise to strive 
after that happy medium, which recognizing a possibility 
of good in all things, yields to none an unquestionable 
allegiance; and as the above opinion is perhaps applicable, 
more specifically to our wrangling medical systems, and 
schools, than to their respective followers; to the latter, I 
would say, that it is perhaps better to yield partial alle¬ 
giance to inclinations and tendencies, if not obviously 
injurious, than to positive prescriptions and probabilities 
resulting from wide generalizations, and in many cases 
inapplicable to specific temperaments. The one general 
need is, that in the pursuit after health, as in the strife for 
godliness, we should follow those principles, which our 
consciences and the good results accruing from their ob¬ 
servance ratify. 

That we should avoid the obvious evil, and cling to the 
obvious good. Platitudinarian advice to be sure, but 
tangible and practical enough to every man, who is suffi¬ 
ciently honest to recognize and confess the fact, that in 
matters sanitary as in morals, the slips, are not so much 
attributable to ignorance as to willful blindness, as witness 
the readiness with which the ailing can generally trace 
their condition back to physical sin. 

Not alone dyspeptics and valetudinarians, but all careful 
men make a study of their own bodies, learn by observation 
what they need, and regulate their diet and other usages 
accordingly. We should all be more or less, in the habit 
of watching ourselves, and should generally know, as well 
as our physicians could tell, what is good, and what is bad 
for us. We know to what indiscretion, we may refer yes¬ 
terday’s colic, or this morning’s headache. 

The public health is also the object of wise care. The 
sanitary regulations of cities, the hospitals of every descrip¬ 
tion, the severe penalties for the adulteration of food, the 
2 * 


34 


OUR CHILDREN. 


vigilance committees, and tlie redoubled vigilance of quar¬ 
antines and commissions, in times when cholera and other 
infection is dreaded, all show the increasing thoughtfulness 
concerning health. It is a hopeful sign too, to mark the 
annually growing crowds of tourists, who leave our heated 
cities in the summer, to bathe in the surf of Newport, to 
rough-it in the Adirondacks, or foot-it through the White 
Mountains, to drink the sulphur or chalybeate waters of 
our mineral springs, or to rusticate in the quieter, purer air 
of our country villages. 

The fact, that we are at last taking time enough, in 
which to attend to our physical well-being, argues well for 
us as a nation. The goitres and cretins of the beautiful 
Swiss valleys, show us the ravages which confined air, 
and bad water have made in a naturally fine people. The 
degeneration of the Aztec tribe, produced perhaps by ex¬ 
cessive intermarriage, shows us a once graceful and hand¬ 
some race, reduced to stunted and grinning savages, from 
a disregard of natural laws. Travelers in the Polar regions 
tell us, that the Esquimaux are gradually becoming extinct, 
owing largely to their uncleanly habits, the excessive heat 
of their huts, and the oleaginous food which the climate 
renders necessary. All those facts warn us, that races, 
careless of the rules of health, may rapidly degenerate, or 
even disappear, as the Indians are doing. 

Therefore it is that we hail this national awakening to 
the importance of physical culture, and the signs of it 
which I have mentioned. 

One of the signs of modern progress, is the increasing 
and intelligent interest taken in the subject of health. 
Where some years ago, the majority of men were entirely 
dependent upon their doctor, incapable of prescribing for 
themselves, in their simplest ailments, and utterly ignorant 
of the uses and nature of the most ordinary remedies; few 


PRE-REQUISITES OF HEALTH. 


35 


families are now without their medicine chests, and the 
symptoms and peculiarities of the various forms of disease, 
with their respective modes of treatment, are understood 
and discussed among all classes of educated men. The 
more unrecognizable properties of such drugs as opium, 
camphor, quinine, chloroform, rhubarb, ipecac, iodine, 
aconite, bella-donna are familiar to many housekeepers. 
The various functions performed by different kinds of food, 
in building up the components of the human system, are 
better understood by the laic mind than formerly. What 
food contains starch, and what phosphorus, and what part 
each plays, in the repair of tissues, is no longer a secret 
of the dentists. Physiology is taught in our free schools, 
and in lyceum lectures, and illustrated by cuts and man¬ 
ikins. 

Such crude and mechanical conceptions of the origin of 
pain, as once led old women to speak of a colic, as the 
“ twisting of the ling bones,” would be laughed at nowa¬ 
days by the most unprofessional. We venture to say, that 
the general process of circulation, digestion, aud respiration, 
are almost universally understood. So are the general 
structure of the skeleton, the function of the liver, the 
kidneys, the skin, the veins, arteries, and capillaries. The 
laws and first requisites of health, are very generally known, 
and Herbert Spencer’s Primary Guide in Education,—the 
teaching the manner, in which life and health are directly 
preserved—has been spontaneously reached by an enquiring 
community. 

Every one now comprehends, that ventilation, moderate 
exercise, regular hours, wholsome food, and cleanliness, are 
the pre-requisites of health. “ Our fathers,” said the Abbot 
Alexander mournfully, “ never washed their faces, but we 
frequent the public baths.”* 

*Patres nostri nunquam facies suas lavabant—nos autem lavacra publica 
balneaque frequentamus. Mosehus, Pratum Spirituale. 



36 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


To lay down, and enumerate at this point, rules for guid¬ 
ance, as to diet, exercise, bathing, amount of sleep, venti¬ 
lation, medicine, etc., would he foreign to the purposes of 
this introduction, which is designed to be general, and not 
particular, to be less a lecture on hygiene, than a prefatory 
chapter asserting the province of modem physic, and the 
proper methods in which the subject of physical health, 
should be approached, by the readers of treatises like the 
following. To expect that the perusal of one, or many 
books, however exhaustive and correct, will be sufficient to 
furnish us with a practical rule of life, is as unreasonable 
as to suppose that the study of chemistry, or geology, may 
be mastered by a study of text-books, without the necessity 
of putting on the laboratory apron, or personally examining 
the rocks, and strata. 

Every man must be a law to himself. He must discern 
by observation, what regimen injures, and what benefits 
him, an d must direct his habits accordingly. The medical 
profession, in untechnical books like the present, simply 
present to an intelligent public, the general results of their 
author’s experience. It is for the public to co-operate with 
the doctors, in adapting their habits to national standards. 

There never has been in history a people, with larger 
opportunities for building up a fine national physique, than 
we Americans enjoy. Our climate, if changeable, is tem¬ 
perate and bracing. The enervating heats of the south, do 
not stop our vigor, nor the plagues of the east, affect the 
air of our well-scavengered, well-watered cities. The 
mountains and the forests, vast reservoirs of health and 
strength, are behind us. From them we may annually 
recruit our exhausted energies, and like Antseus, redouble 
our strength, at every fresh contact with our worthy 
mother Earth. % 

We have no starving population, in this land of grain, 




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V 














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AMERICAN EXCELLENCE OF FORM. 


37 


liigli-paid labor, and no man need suffer for lack of winter 
coal and clothing. There is always the west waiting to 
draw off, through the mighty sluices of our continental 
railway lines the superabundance of poverty, which in 
Europe stagnates into cess-pools of abomination—the Seven 
Dials, and St. Germains—which breed moral and physical 
pestilence, below the surface of these brilliant capitals. 

We have the blood of strong races in our veins, and the 
traditions of a simple life, from our Puritan Fathers. Al¬ 
ready our superior height of frame, our independent car¬ 
riage, and the nervous vitality, that looks through the eyes 
and breathes in the nostrils, show the improvements of the 
American man; already the grace, and spiritual beauty of 
the American woman, have distinguished our people in 
Europe. 

We have too, a public mind, singularly active and en¬ 
quiring, interested in the subject of health, and capable 
of national investigation for itself. It is noticeable, how 
eagerly the paragraphs, having relation to some hygiene 
fact of general importance, are copied and read in our news¬ 
papers, be it only a nostrum for the ague, or an account of 
the quick convalescence of an invalid lady, upon the re¬ 
moval of the green paper hangings from the walls of her 
sick room. 

We are told that there is gradually developing in this 
country, a national type of form and feature, essentially 
different from that of our Saxon fathers. With all our 
advantages of climate and education, it behooves us to see 
that the coming man, whether he be tall or short, blonde 
or brunette, “ muscular Christian, or nervous Pagan,” shall 
be worthy in body, as in mind, of the stalwart ancestry, 
who felled the forest, fought the red savages, and made the 
ways smooth before the feet of politic, but let us hope, not 
less manly generations. 


CHAPTEK II. 


OUR PHYSICAL HERITAGE. 


T HE physical, mental, and possibly moral nature of an 
individual, is the result of elements existing long before 
his birth, his generation even. It depends upon circum" 
stances, over some of which, neither he, nor his parents, nor 
his ancestors, however far removed, had the slightest con¬ 
trol. He inherits certain characteristics, from both his 
father and his mother; they before him, partook of the 
peculiar nature of their immediate progenitors; who in 
their turn had the characteristics of their family, their na¬ 
tion, their race; and these peculiar traits, were again modi¬ 
fied by climate, occupation, and condition. 

One would think, that with such varied influences, that 
there would be less resemblance than there is, between 
man and man, so diverse and often discordant are the 
natures blended in each. Yet, marked as are the distinc¬ 
tions of individuals, and races, and people, their points of 
resemblance are far more numerous. Ho African looks so 
little like an African as to be taken for a Moor or a Cau¬ 
casian, nor does any man look so little human, as to be 
taken for a wild animal. 

Paces of men, breeds of stock, are alike created by the 
inter-breeding of the same family, within itself; no new 
elements being introduced, there is a necessary repetition 
of the leading features of the original parents, which, with 
every renewed birth, becomes strengthened and more* 
marked. 


SEX OF CHILDREN AT WILL. 


39 


These statements are centuries old, and every day proves 
the assertion. Peculiar races of dogs, and sheep, and rabbits 
and pigeons, are created at will, by attention being made 
to the “ crossing” of the stock; dogs are marked with spots 
in exact locations, and rabbits are bred with short ears or 
long, pink eyes or brown. 

But it is only natural marks, that can be perpetuated in 
this manner. Although the spots on a terrier dog, may be 
produced in a pup yet to be born, and hornless kine ensured, 
yet no art can produce from two white dogs, of white race, 
any spots, by marking either or both, in the desired locality 
with colored pigment; and no race of dogs with cut ears, 
or horses "with bobbed tails, can be produced, although 
certain breeds of dogs have been thus mutilated for years 
and generations, and horses likewise. In the same manner, 
no maimed veteran, ever had a child with but one leg, 
although many successive generations of individuals, have 
been born with six fingers and thumbs, on one or both 
hands. 

Natural congenital, physical characteristics, are matters 
of hereditary transmissions, while deformities like a hunch¬ 
back from disease, a maimed limb from accident, or a deaf¬ 
ness from scarlet fever, are not in any degree transmissable, 
by generation. 

Certain characteristics of the immediate parents, at the 
time of procreation, are not literally transmitted, but have 
a marked and recognizable effect upon the offspring. Thus, 
a child begotten in weakness of either parent, inherits a 
weakly general condition; of drunken parents, an alleged 
unrestrainable proclivity to intemperance (this theme is 
enlarged upon in my late work “ Conjugal Sins”); and if 
in a fit of temper, to a morbid and ferocious ugliness of 
^character, markedly transmitted. So evident is this effect 
of the mind, and tlxe physical condition of the body over 


40 


OUR CHILDREN. 


the products of generation, that the sex of the children is 
capable of being determined by the spirit of the parents. 
Thus, it has been noted, that a large proportion of the chil¬ 
dren born of truly patriotic parents, during our war of 
the revolution, and during the revolution of France, were 
male, in answer to the interior longings of the parents, that 
new sons might be born to them to sustain the grand and 
glorious cause of freedom, to repulse the invaders, and 
bring consequent peace, plenty, and an advance in human 
rights. On the contrary, those nerveless, pusillanimous pa¬ 
rents, guided by no higher aim than their own selfish 
desires, swayed more by fear than honor, constantly hoping 
that to them, would be given no children capable of fighting 
the battles for their country, freedom, and right; these were 
subsequent parents to female children in a large degree. 

Other similar instances, of the transmission of parental 
impressions to the children in embryo, are more commonly 
seen. Some twenty years ago, the whole community about 
us, was excited by the presence of Jenny Lind, who was 
singing throughout the country. Cunningly framed articles 
in the papers, had heralded her coming to America; the 
pulpit had been induced to enter its powerful influence in 
her behalf; she was visited by judges and divines and dis¬ 
tinguished persons of every class, her charitable concerts 
were numerous, productive, and unprecedented—in short 
every art of puffery, advertisement, and publicity was 
exhausted to enhance her fame and create a f urore in her 
behalf. It was successful; her name rang over the continent; 
people of means made long journeys to see and hear the 
wonderful creature, gifted with such rare beauty, extraor¬ 
dinary musical (as well as moral and religious) nature, and 
educated to the highest pitch of perfection. The world 
was wild with enthusiasm. She was the first thought on 
rising, the last on retiring to rest. 


THE MIN'D'S INFL PENCE IN PR 0 CREA TION\ 41 


The result is marked in the history of the nation. No 
such impulse was ever given to the musical art in any land; 
music became elevated to a line art. It was taught hence¬ 
forth in the public schools, pianos became the ordinary 
furniture of the poorest houses, and musicians who, before 
that era, were under a ban, considered as belonging to an 
inferior rank of the people, classed among tumblers and 
gymnasts and dancers, suddenly emerged from their ob¬ 
scurity, and entered into society, and a social equality, reg¬ 
ulated in public and private appreciation by their general 
worth. 

But what is of especial interest in our present considera¬ 
tion is, the effect it had upon the unborn, those in their 
passage from generation to life, and development, portrayed 
in the individual instances which have come to special 
notice. I will mention but a single example as a type of 
many similar. 

Mrs. S , was a woman of high refinement, aesthetic ap¬ 
preciation, great general and remarkable musical taste, and 
wdthal possessing considerable vocal culture; her husband 
was likewise endowed, with a great taste for music. These 
two were assiduous attendants upon the Jenny Lind con¬ 
certs, missing scarcely one of them. 

Naturally, their thoughts and conversation were much 
upon them, of the programme, of the coming entertainment, 
of the character of the last, of procuring the songs she had 
sung, of their trying them together. Then the location 
of the seats, the price at which the tickets were sold, the 
crowd at the door, the rush for seats, the danger from the 
crowd, both to herself and the child struggling beneath 
her heart. This lasted for weeks and months, in anticipa¬ 
tion and realization. After the last concert had concluded, 
to which she, knowing the close proximity to the time of 
her delivery, yet attended, although with fear and trembling, 


42 


OUR CHILDREN. 


unconscious as slie with her first child was, as to its commence¬ 
ment and general symptoms. She retired to rest. The 
next night, she was taken with the pains of labor, and in 
due time was happily delivered of a promising daughter. 

Living as Mrs. S-had been, for so long time in the 

midst of the musical mission, one might expect some result, if 
ever, upon the child they enveloped. From an early period 
the girl showed great appreciation for music; at eighteen 
months, sang with the utmost accuracy of time and intona¬ 
tion, a favorite popular song of those days “ Old folks at 
Home.” I can even now in memory, hear that infantile 
voice warbling that sweet air, and cannot but be astonished 
at its rare sweetness and musical intelligence. 

At the present day, almost a score of years have passed 
away, and she has developed this precocious natural taste, 
and now her musical capacity is something extraordinary, 
and the gift is the most marked one in her nature. 

This history would fail of its full instructive lesson, did 
I not add, that a second daughter born with no such unus¬ 
ual accessories, possesses a musical capacity; rather a recep¬ 
tivity and a liking for, than development—such as might 
be reasonably expected from parents of such musical taste. 
Her salient qualities lie in far different aesthetic fields. 

FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 

The character of our children in their moral, intellectual 
and physical attributes, depends therefore, if what we have 
already said is correct, upon these general premises. 

First, the hereditary peculiar family (and that embraces 
national characteristics) traits. 

Secondly , the result of the crossing of the elements of 
father and mother, the clash when they are antagonistic, 
the homologous interfusion, when they are identical or 
similar. 



HEREDITARY TRANSMISSIONS. 


43 


Thirdly , the peculiar condition of each and both parents, 
both physically and mentally, at the exact moment of their 
generation. 

In regard to the first of these divisions, we have little to 
say. The text upon which our discourse is to be founded 
reads, “ visiting the iniquity of the fathers, upon the children 
unto the third and and fourth generation,” and it is one of 
the earliest statements of hereditary tendencies. This in¬ 
clination may be strengthened or thwarted, wholly or par¬ 
tially, in the future generation, by care taken in the marriage 
selection. 

We see the fact daily exemplified, in the change made 
in the lower animals by the stock raiser. Into a herd of 
cows of common breed, he introduces a choice Durham 
bull. In five years time, he has sent all his old cows to 
the slaughter, and in their stead, he has an equivalent that 
are half Durham. In the lapse of another semi-decade, by 
a similar breeding, his stock is three-quarters Durham. 
Literally, it is true that he will never have pure Durham 
stock, as evidenced by an occasional calf being seen, that 
resembles in no respects her immediate progenitors, but 
whose peculiarities date back to the original common breed 
from which it is so many generations removed. 

This is practically “ the iniquity of the fathers.” And 
this too, is the observable result of the inefiacable sin of 
adultery, one which independent of all moral considerations 
cannot be wiped out. It has introduced a heterogeneous 
element into the family, one that is not understood by the 
family in their internal communions, one that is marked to 
strangers, by its outside physical characteristics. This 
divergence was so marked, that in the olden time, when 
nobles recognized their illegitimate children, and not un- 
frequently nourished and educated them with their natural 
children, the bastard was noted as being discontented, 


44 


OUR CHILDREN. 


cross-grained, intriguing, always at enmity with, his half- 
brothers and sisters and blood relations. 

The result of marriage therefore, is the attempted recon¬ 
ciliation of the elements of two different individuals, and 
two distinct family tendencies, and possibly of two or more 
national characteristics. 

If the same care was employed in raising children, as is 
exercised in raising sheep or pigs, then we might see a far 
different product. But marriages are dictated and entered 
into for money, for family ambition, for beauty, very rarely 
indeed, with much regard to the physical condition of pro¬ 
spective descendants. 

MARRIAGE. 

Marriage is one of the inevitable accidents of life; like 
the measles, few escape it, and a few take it twice. Yet, 
common and universal as it is, and dating from the earliest 
antiquity, it is strangely enough governed not only by no 
laws, but also it would seem as if there were no general 
principles guiding the parties interested, all seemingly left 
to chance, or to an imaginary necessity called love. 

In the Old World, marriage has long been a business 
partnership, the parents of the couple, balancing one against 
another, w T here family, position, talent, beauty, money, all 
entered the scale, as make-weights, but where none, except 
the latter, had a fixed value. 

In the earlier days of the New World, no such valuations 
were allowed place in this Union, but a mutual liking— 
call it love if you please—which sprang up between the 
parties after a long and intimate acquaintanceship, was the 
foundation of the marriage. If any other element was 
permitted to enter, it was that of capability, or, as called 
in homely phrase, smartness. This is, and should be, the 
real foundation for a happy union. 


MARRIAGES FROM LOVE. 


45 


Such unions are the results of time; they depend upon 
knowledge of the person, and are matters of judgment, 
biased indeed, possibly blinded by the fancy, but time and 
opportunity enter largely into the matter. 

It being conceded that time is a necessary element, and 
that love is therefore of slow growth, it results that there 
is room for discretion and advisability, and some reference 
to after results ; to the entire blending of the two individ¬ 
uals into one aim, or that “ the twain shall become one 
fleshto the physical and mental character of the children, 
that shall result from the union. 

One sees many pretty faces, and graceful figures, and 
pleasant manners during life, and it depends upon himself 
whether he shall pursue this acquaintance, shall put himself 
in the way to have his interest excited, or whether he shall 
withdraw, and thus put away the chance of his affections 
becoming touched. A man may marry from love, and yet 
marry guided solely by reason, To a proper man, any 
woman has the faculty to inspire him with the most ardent 
passion. If wanting in physical charms, which the most 
quickly subdue, there are female graces far more attractive 
than simple beauty. Indeed, some men are so gross in 
their nature, that the capacities of a good cook will be more 
potent, and win their coarse affections far more surely, than 
all the claims of person, or the refinements of art. 

WHOM SHALL W T E MARRY? 

That is, whom shall we allow ourselves to love, since 
this is thus entirely within our control ? 

Evidently some one who fills the necessity of our regu¬ 
lated fancy. Fancy limits the height, the complexion, the 
color of the hair, the eyes, the length and shape of the nose, 
and the mouth. Fancy, combined with - a degree of judg¬ 
ment, demands a certain amount of natural capacity or 


46 


OUR CHILDREN'. 


mentality, tlie degree of intellectual education, the accom¬ 
plishments and development of taste and refinement. 
These vary in degree, and should correspond with the 
position of the seeker in like respects. 

Judgment rules alone in matteis where health is con¬ 
cerned, and relates, not so much to the immediate parties 
concerned, as to the well-being of the future prospective 
creations, that are to result from this union. 

Few persons, desire that their children shall resemble 
them in every respect, they ought to be taller or shorter, 
plumper or slimmer, their hair should be of some other 
color, they should never have freckles, “ nor any one of 
them, if they had twenty, he called Sam, or Betsy.” Here, 
indeed, simple fancy may rule, but simple judgment says 
one must not marry disease or deformity, of an hereditary 
character. 

In past days the law, which in its severity destroyed 
deformed and sickly children at birth, prohibited the mar¬ 
riage of the weak, and those having diseases that were of 
a blood character, and capable of transmission. The law 
but satisfies the general human judgment. One should 
not allow himself to be attracted, by the bright eyes of 
beauty, and to permit himself afterward to be irresistably 
warmed into love, when epilepsy or consumption, or scrof¬ 
ula, or many other diseases, lie dormant in the system. I 
think if, in response to the query made by the priest in the 
English Church, officiating at a marriage, “ whether any 
one knows any just cause, why this couple shall not be 
joined in holy wedlock ?” any one should answer, that 
there was hereditary disease on one, or both sides, that a 
conscientious priest would stop the further celebration of 
the rite. I cannot conceive of a worse selfishness—to say 
the least—than the willingness to create offspring cursed 
thus, with incurable disease of body or mind, or both. 


MARRIAGE OF COUSINS. 


47 


But now comes a case, where the church does refuse its 
sanctions, by the intermarriage of relations, first cousins 
and nearer. The question has two aspects, one moral, the 
other physical. Of the former aspect, I have nothing to 
say, the question being one of conscience solely. Those 
that are attached to any church, are bound by its decrees, 
which are to be accepted, and not discussed, by them. 

As to the physical effects resulting from inter-breeding, 
the same laws hold good respecting the animal man, as all 
other animals. “ Breeding in and in,” has made all the fine 
stock of the world, and this cannot be carried too far, so 
long as no disease creeps in; for the same cause that per¬ 
petuates excellences, may as easily perpetuate defects. If 
apoplexy is a family disease, unquestionably the children 
of cousins would most certainly inherit it. If, on the other 
hand, a long and vigorous ancestry had invariably died of 
old age, the chances of the children of a grandchild to live 
to advanced age, would be far better, than if the son had 
married into a family, whose ancestry died young. 

The question of intermarriage of cousins, would unques¬ 
tionably long ago have been given up, had it depended 
upon physical argument, unsustained by the moral support 
obtained from supposed Biblical prohibition, and the ques¬ 
tion would be answered by the same reasoning that we 
apply to any case; if there is no real apparent cause, no 
imaginable one should stand in the way. 

For interesting data upon this subject and ingenious 
theorizations, I refer the curious physiological reader, to an 
excellent and recent work—“A Physician’s Problems.” 

The question is then forced upon us, 

WHEN SHALL WE MARRY? 

Solomon, who told us that “ there is a season and a time 
to every purpose under the heaven * * a time for 


48 


OUR CHILDREN. 


embracing, and a time to refrain from embracing,” unfor¬ 
tunately did not tell us exactly when that time was. As 
to the question already discussed, “ Whom shall we marry ?” 
there are two aspects under which it may be viewed—one 
relates to the exigencies of society, and the other to the 
necessities of the body, and incidental to this, and as a cor¬ 
ollary, the effects upon the children which may result from 
the union. 

The great thinkers of the world are divided upon the 
objects of marriage. The Mormons are bold in their asser¬ 
tions, that the whole aim of their union, is the procreation 
of the children, and the keeping up of the race. Less 
sensual thinkers, consider this to be comparatively inci¬ 
dental, but the truer aim to be sought, is the development 
of the higher man, and an advance towards a higher life. 

But as both agree, as they must, that the physical aim 
is an important one, we will waive any consideration of 
the more transcendental view, and look, at this time, upon 
the necessities of the animal nature, what it requires, at 
the results, and what is demanded for their best well-being. 

When shall we marry f if answered from a simple phy¬ 
sical point of view, is, when the elements from which a 
new creation is to be effected, are in the best possible con¬ 
dition. The husbandman, who hopes for a tine crop, does 
not use his refuse, gnarly, valueless seed, which, however, 
might germinate and grow, nor does he take the immature 
corn, which an earlier frost than usual has left unripe, but, 
on the contrary, carefully selects the very best seed as the 
hope of the coming crop, and every successive year finds 
his grain better than before. This careful selection has 
raised the common grass into lordly grain, and, as an in¬ 
stance to the contrary, we see the deteriorating effects upon 
the human races, by a look at some of the nations of Eu¬ 
rope, where constant and prolonged wars, which took the 


MARRIA GE LA WS. 


49 


young and stalwart men as soldiers, and left only tlie 
effeminate, tlie aged, sickly, and crippled at home to marry 
and propagate the race. The result, in some of these 
countries where war was very nigh perpetual, was to leave 
the people at the end of a century, puny in size, weak in 
body—and ill-formed to the last degree—and this, too, not¬ 
withstanding that one-half the elements employed—viz., 
the women—were not deteriorated by the sacrifices of 
war. 

We should marry then, physically viewing the question, 
when the elements are in their prime. Women are capable 
of reproduction at twelve to fourteen in this country, and 
men receive the elements of reproduction, at from fourteen 
to sixteen years of age. But this is immature fruit. These 
are but children, still growing, still incomplete, and yet in 
the gristle. The elements of vigor, which should enter 
into the germs of new life, are needed for the growth, 
solidification, and stamina of these putative parents. 

Such parents we occasionally see, and they sometimes, 
marrying young, raise large families, and attain to an old 
age; but this is owing rather to an inherited vigorous con¬ 
stitution than to their own capacities : for, were this system 
kept up for a prolonged period, the results would be any¬ 
thing but satisfactory. This we see in the Orient, where 
marriages are ordinarily celebrated among children as soon 
as physically possible. They become old at thirty-five, 
haggard and decrepid at fifty, and few attain to the senility 
and absolute decreptitude of sixty years. 

But many seem to think, because physically capable of 
consummating the marriage act, perhaps because evidence 
of ardent passion are present, that therefore nature is plainly 
showing that there is a necessity for marriage. With an 
equal show of reasoning, we might urge that because an 
immature youth, is capable of carrying heavy burdens, of 


50 


OUR CHILDREN. 


sustaining the fatigues of a march, a bivouac, or labor in 
mines or collieries, or the ambition to do something manly, 
honorable, or profitable, that, therefore, he should be put 
to it % Why, even a farmer knows better respecting his 
stock. He would not work his growing colts and steers, 
for he knows that they can be relied upon only for a dash, 
which soon uses them up. The general, w’ants solid men, 
not gristly boys, for the campaign. 

The whole energies of every living thing, is concentrated 
in the elements of reproduction. The vitality of the huge 
oak, is spent in the elaboration of an acorn. Take a season 
of drought, when the parching heat dries up everything, 
and not a green thing is visible. One by one the leaves of 
the wheat stalk have dwindled, and dried up, and fallen 
away, first, the lowest, and so on in succession, till finally, 
there is no sign of life remaining in the yellow and sere 
stalk ; but, dried and withered as it is, it still lives, and the 
industrious root pushes still deeper its fibres, seeking tor 
new juices to send through this arid conduit, and all to 
support the grain safely growing, and developing, and 
maturing, in its golden head; and when the last drop is 
sucked, and the final element is added, the spent nature 
no longer struggles, but still holding aloft its perfected 
stalk, after having accomplished the great end of its life, 
having fulfilled, to the best of its ability, under trying cir¬ 
cumstances, its duty to its Creator, it is contented to be 
classed among the stubble, and to pass unnoticed away. 

And this is but a type of human life. The same opera¬ 
tion under Nature’s laws, goes on in the higher sphere of 
human existence. The development of the seed, is the 
recognized great aim of a mother’s life. Her whole phy¬ 
sical nature stands devoted to it. The laws of ordinary 
life are suspended, to accommodate themselves to this 
divine end. The growing girl ceases in her development, 


HOLIXESS OF MA TERNITY. 51 

till tlie quickened child is delivered, and not till then, does' 
this unripe mother again begin to grow. 

Even deadly disease is held in abeyance, and the con¬ 
sumptive mother finds her every symptom palliated, that 
her entire physical energies may he given towards perfect¬ 
ing her unborn babe. Once this end is accomplished, and 
a plump and apparently vigorous child is born into the 
world, then the ghastly officer from the court of death 
reappears, and makes short work with a frame exhausted 
to the utmost, by the drain of the previous nine months’ 
demand. Thus it may be seen that maternity demands 
the best energies of the most robust condition. 

IIow holy is the duty imposed upon woman! If there 
is considered to be an idea of awe, connected with the ship 
that bore the ashes of the dead N apoleon from St. Helena, 
to the Paris of his love; if there be a sanctity connected 
with the burial place of kings, and common men, and pau¬ 
pers—there, where we are all alike—surely there is a holi¬ 
ness connected with maternity. The germs of immortality 
are struggling beneath that mother’s breast, and the whole 
powers of nature are quickened, and developed, and ex¬ 
hausted, to perfect this grandest of works—a labor wherein 
man and divinity work together—one which, oft repeated 
as it is, is still a constant miracle : one, that calls down a 
constant blessing from heaven. 

To this work, where God does a part, man surely should 
give his best efforts—no immature, defective offering—but 
the concentrated powers of his perfected nature. 

MATURITY. 

At what age can man and woman be said to be mature ? 
The plateau, on the extreme summit of the mountain peak, 
is necessarily small. Man may be said to approximate to 
physical perfection, ere he arrives at this empyrean height 


52 


OUR CHILDREN\ 


of excellence. After he has emerged from the hogs ahd 
thickets of boyhood, and has ascended to the almost level 
glacis, where a gentle slope upward conducts to maturity. 

The gristle should not only he hone, hut the ossification 
should be complete, the marrow firm, and the whole animal 
solidified. 

The same relative correspondence exists in the man and 
the woman, as in the boy and the girl. Twenty to twen¬ 
ty-six in the woman, and and twenty-six to thirty in the 
man, has developed body and mind of both. If the char¬ 
acter is disregarded, and the mental development not 
considered, a couple of years may be deducted from these 
figures. 

I am aware that at these numbers some of my readers will 
join issue. They will tell ine that even St. Paul said it 
was better to marry than burn, and surely youth will burn 
long before these ages are reached. Certainly; but St. 
Paul did not say that it did any hurt, to get pretty hot—I 
don’t propose any spontaneous combustion. There is no 
more danger of that from fourteen to twenty-eight, than 
from fourteen to twenty. 

But the exigencies of society and social life, and the 
demands of the nineteenth century, and—my friend, I do 
not control chignons or trails, nor modern improvements, 
nor brown stone fronts, I simply try to show what marriage 
intends to accomplish, and practically, “ when shall you 
marry,” will be your business, wherein I shall not be 
consulted. 

CONDITION OF PAUENTS. 

Prom what has been said already, the actual condition of 
the parents in every respect, is a matter of the utmost im¬ 
portance, if we desire to introduce into the world a healthy, 
intellectual, moral, and vigorous offspring. 

Ho stock raiser, desirous of perpetuating a valuable strain 


GENERATION OF CHILDREN. 


53 


in his stock, would permit sexual relations to take place, 
when either sire or dam were reduced below their average 
condition by overwork, by short feed, or feebleness from 
the result ot an accident or disease. The farmer pays his 
money, that his mare may be served by a celebrated stal¬ 
lion. He calculates that from a mare like his, if a Messen¬ 
ger, or other fast stock, a colt from the celebrated Ham- 
bletonian, is worth five hundred dollars when a month old. 
Do you think he will pay one hundred dollars, for a colt 
from an exhausted horse, just getting up from a bad founder 
or inflamation of the lungs ? 

And yet this very man has so little understood, the real 
theory of the matter, and so imperfectly is it impressed 
upon his mind, that he will not hesitate himself to generate 
a son or a daughter, when he is exhausted by a long journey, 
fretted by carking care, or his wife nervous and worn out, 
by waiting upon the sick at home, by anxieties, and perhaps 
grieving at the death of one, that she had nursed from birth 
to an early death. We cannot believe that he thinks less 
of a child, than of a colt, yet it would look so, if we should 
judge from his acts. 

If we could trace back the history of these puny children, 
the “ runts ” as they are unkindly styled in families, the 
scrofulous, weakly, ex-sanguine, nervous, prematurely old, 
early dying children, to the time of their conception, we 
should find that the great majority of them, dated their 
initial origin, to a day of languor and disturbance of either 
body or mind, or both ; a time when the prospect of failure 
was imminent, when harrassed by previous habits, disagree¬ 
ment with a partner, defalcation of a clerk, an illness which 
confined one in the midst of the busy season at home, when 
the oldest son or the loved daughter had done some wrong, 
compromised themselves or their family ; when some family 
misunderstanding existed, when the master of the house 


54 


OUR CHILDREN. 


had come home much later than usual, and a “ little the 
worse ” for his evening’s entertainment, (see for examples 
Physiological Essays by Robert Bird, M.D., London, Trub- 
ner & Co.,) and twenty years more or less afterward, you 
complain of certain strange idiosyncrasies, in your child, 
and say “ there were no such tendencies in your family.” 

It is vain and profitless to reason, that these matters are 
physiological, chemical, or physical. We can admit they 
assist to a certain degree, but we know how mind dominates 
over matter, and can recognize the fact, [without being able 
to prove how, that the mental emotions can, and do materL 
ally affect the ultimate molecules, secreted in the copulative 
act] that the mental characteristics are imparted to the 
germs of a new being, but when this addition is made, we 
cannot now, and perhaps never can say. 

There are those, who pretend that idiocy is the result of 
the more or less complete absence of intellect, of one or 
both parents, from drunkenness, disease, or some similar 
cause at the time of the genesaie act. 

It is unimportant in this connection, and for the present 
purpose, to know everything in detail. We have enough 
already to teach, in the importance of the perfect health of 
both parents, who aim at reproduction, and that within cer¬ 
tain limitations, we may so govern our passions as to avoid 
any danger of such undesirable results. 

The laws and limitations of human fecundation, I have 
in “ Conjugal Sins ” fully explained, and it is undesirable 
to recapitulate here. It is our own fault if we have mar¬ 
ried unhealthily; it is in a far greater degree, our own fault 
if we do not as a result, create children physically our equals. 

Children have been known to be thrown into fatal con¬ 
vulsions, by nursing the breast of a mother while in a 
plirenzy of anger. Is it then unreasonable to believe that 


MIND INFLUENCING THE UNBORN. 


55 


the physical condition, and mental emotion of the mother 
during the nine months of gestation, must have a material 
influence upon the constitution and mental attributes of a 
creature, which lies close under her heart ? 

For a time this child, is part and parcel of herself, every 
nutriment comes from her veins, she gives it being, and 
can it be doubted that she gives it physical character, men¬ 
tal stamina, and nervous energy ? Corn is corn, whether 
planted and grown in the heats of Florida, amid the snows 
of Greenland, or on its loved soil of our western prairies; 
yet how diftereut its development! It needs chemistry 
and microscopy almost, to prove its identity. If then, the 
actual condition of mother Earth, has so marked an effect 
upon one of her most favored children, can it be doubted, 
that the human mother’s situation, as far as it may have 
reference to her happiness and comfort, shall materially 
affect her offspring ? 

Toil, privation, disease, mental anxiety, on the part of 
the child-bearing woman, must have a marked influence 
on the unborn child. If one can believe that the shock of 
meeting a deformed person, a monkey, a hideous, ghastly 
spectacle, shall permanently disfigure a child; if it can be 
believed that the ungratified longing for a cherry, or a 
blackberry, shall have power, to mark an unborn child, 
with a recognizable image of the object desired, can we 
refuse to believe, that the loathing felt at seeing a drunken 
husband, come reeling homeward, and to a place at her 
side, shall affect the mind of the infant within her ? When 
we see that the disgrace of a near friend, the crime of a 
relative, the shame at a country’s want of patriotism, will 
send the blush to the mother’s cheek, and leave her sick 
at heart, can we doubt that such thoughts of the mother, 
shall lend a reflective and sombre cast of thought, to the 
nature of the developing child ? 


56 


OUR CHILDREN. 


To what extent, the future character of the unborn babe, 
is dependent upon the mind and moral character of the 
mother, we may not be able to determine. Sure it is that 
there is an attending influence. (The facts and speculations 
on this point, by my valued and now deceased friend John 
O’Reilly M.D. of New York, are pertinent to this consider¬ 
ation.) We can therefore, in recognition, do no less than 
to surround the mother with such delights and joys as are 
within our power. And by this, I do not mean that the 
selfish imaginations, the so called “ longings ” for inappro¬ 
priate ,and fanciful, and costly luxuries, should be gratified 
at any cost of time, health or money. These, are all the 
exactions of a greedy woman, playing a part, and are not 
worthy of a serious consideration. But the real comforts 
of a wife should be considered. She should be as much as 
possible freed from anxieties, her irritable, nervous condi¬ 
tion, should be recognized; the vagaries of a disturbed 
stomach, should be attended to when reasonably considerate; 
and she should be surrounded by careful attention and the 
warmest sympathy. 

Above all, she should be induced to look at her condition, 
as one of the highest duties of her being, and a natural 
healthy process. She should be strengthened and encour¬ 
aged, to look at her duties and condition, as under the direct 
ordinance of the Creator of all things, and thus see a 
sublimity in maternity, of which she had never before 
dreamt. 


CHAPTER III. 


MATERNITY. 

T HE great apparent aim and object of the life of all 
natnre, seems to be the perpetuation of its species. 
The seed of even the minutest plant is borne through the 
air, and falls into some chink or cranny, and however iso¬ 
lated from its kind, or barren and inappropriate the soil, it 
strives to the utmost to get root, and blossom, and fructify, 
—then to die. The Datura Stramonium is- a beautiful 
example of this. Capable of being exalted into a shrub 
overreaching a man’s head, w T ith wide-spreading branches 
and broad plumes, with its thorn-apples, or seed-pods, as 
large as a man’s clenched fist, yet under less propitious 
circumstances, it dwindles, and if its surroundings are en¬ 
tirely adverse, it diminishes until its properties are dwarfed 
into insignificance, its whole size scarce exceeding an inch 
or two in altitude, and its tiny branches putting forth 
diminutive leaflets ; still in all its poverty and humbleness, 
it forgets not the great duty given to it by its Creator, and 
on its lowly but honest part, blooms out its dessicated 
flowers, gathers its strength to fructify one tiny seed, full 
however of vitality and vigor, and capable, under refresh¬ 
ing influences, of developing into the full stature of its 
God-given capacity. 

Look at a humble insect, the common spider, whose ex¬ 
ample of perseverance stimulated the Bruce to new exertion, 
and saved a nation from shame, and which may serve again 
to teach a recreant world its duty. See this ignoble spider 
3 * 


58 


OUR CHILDREN. 


sitting upon its ball of eggs. Harass this insect, generally 
so fearful, so ready to fly at the wind’s jarring, and she Is 
immovable; take a stick and destroy the frail net around 
her, and though her laboriously-constructed home may be 
swept away, she yet remains hanging by a solitary thread, 
watching her incipient offspring. It is only with absolute 
death staring her in the face, and a violent separation from 
her holy charge, that she essays to break the bond implanted 
by Divinity, in her nobler than human heart. 

Go into the wild wood, and the green fields. The birds 
of the air affect a tameness and a feebleness they do not 
feel, and flutter in your path in the attempt, by inducing 
pursuit of themselves, to draw you away from their nest 
concealed near by; and in our own barn-yard the timid 
fowl grow brave before advancing steps, and fly at us 
with rustling wings, as we approach their inchoate nest, or 
their chirping brood. 

Moved by the divine instinct of reproduction, the savage 
beast seeks its mate, shrinking not before any distance, lofty 
mountains, or plains, or wide-spread rivers, and the dam, 
forgetful of all else than her high prerogative, searches for the 
most quiet solitudes to find a lair for her young; no dan¬ 
ger daunts her then; and the lioness puts to shame the 
prowess of the hero, in defence of her litters. The huge 
hippopotamus, makes her unwieldy bulk a shield for her 
feeble offspring, from the arrows of the huntsman. The 
ponderous sperm whale, takes her calf under her fin, and 
dives with it far below the blue wave, to escape the dread 
lance of the harpooner. The walrus rips open with her 
savage tusks, the boat containing the destroyer of her loved 
little one. Ho grizzly watcli-dog is so fierce, no bull with 
glaring eyeball so formidable, no cat even, whose velvet 
foot conceals a sharp claw, is so wrathful as the mother of 
either species, who thinks that some danger threatens her 
offspring. 


THE GRANDEUR OF MATERNITY. 


59 


How is it with the human mother, weighed in the bal¬ 
ance ? How does lordly man compare with the brute ? 

There was a most touching pathos, in the words which 
fell from the lips of a woman-speaker, at a late WOman’s 
Rights’ Convention. After a plea for the equality of pay¬ 
ment for either sex for equal work, in which she said that 
this would do very much to take away the sin, and prevent 
the shame of 20,000 women of this city, living lives that 
could not be described, she said, with a tone I shall not 
forget: “ There is something holy in maternity!” Ho 
matter under what circumstances we find it—like the Da¬ 
tura Stramonium in rich garden soil, or in the sterile sands 
of the desert! I felt then, as her soft, sweet voice enun¬ 
ciated this truth—I have felt it often before, without pos¬ 
sessing a consciousness of this thrilling truth—however 
abject may be the mother, however low and degraded may 
have been her life, however ignorant her mind, or low her 
birth, or despised her race, when I recall her sufferings, 
when I think of the sainted mother to whose agonies I owe 
my own existence, my heart echoes back Mrs. Kerr’s thril¬ 
ling words: “ There is something holy in maternity!” 

Yet the unfortunate, ignorant, simple, loving, betrayed 
girl, is ejected from her father’s house, from the home of 
her mother, rarely, indeed, thank God! from the affection 
of her brothers and sisters, and friends. Mrs. Kerr says 
that the ballot for women, i. e., equality wfith man in po¬ 
litical rights, will remedy this. Pray God it may ! 

Yet the fashionist of the day forgets the laws of love, 
religion, and the joys of maternity, and by every hellish 
art seeks to prevent and subvert the laws of nature, of life, 
and of love. For the sake of dress, and fashion, and ease, 
they do—God forbid me from saying what they do ! 

And the great city of Hew York, with its charities, and 
almsgivings, and reliefs, has none of these for the betrayed, 


60 


OUR CHILDREN. 


no solace from greater grief than most men can suffer. The 
deceived girl, outcast and despised, has no place of rest, 
but by a leap from the ferry-boat, a jump from the dock, a 
pan of charcoal, the poisonous draught, or—a life which 
Mrs. Kerr says 20,000 women live, in the city of Hew 
York—is it not worse than death ? 

When women do vote, may they vote their sex a Retreat! 
There is so little magnanimity in man, without whose con¬ 
currence, to say the least, such horrors would be impossible, 
that they virtuously shrink from' endowing an asylum for 
the offspring of their own guilt. Would that Mrs. Kerr’s 
voice might ring in every ear, until a Foundling Hospital 
shall be established here, and her words be engraven over 
its portals, 

“There is something holy in Maternity .” 


Thus much for the sesthetical, and if it please you so to 
consider, the political and spiritual side of matrimony. 
There is also a prosaic, worldly, and mere physical view 
to be taken of it. Simple bread and butter, holds a large 
place in the thoughts of the world. We cannot if we 
would, ignore this prospect, and the questions are forced 
upon us daily, “ how shall we live ? what shall we do, that 
shall conduce best, to our own well-being, and for the future 
health and happiness of that new being, that shall in time 
to come, be dearer to us than ourselves ? our own flesh and 
blood; child of our affection ; our hope, comfort, joy ; the 
object which alone shall stand, between us and our willing¬ 
ness to seek the rest of the grave, and beyond it, the bliss 
of heaven?” 

Yes, we feel anxious even now, when this is but a pros¬ 
pect of the future, we are anxious to know, what we shall 
do for its physical well-being. 


THE MOTHER'S NEEDS. 


61 


Now, this child is but a part of yourself, and draws all 
its nutriment and strength from your veins. It is reason¬ 
able then to consider, your own well-being of the greatest 
importance. In every way, endeavor to keep yourself in 
the best physical condition. Those rules of life which have 
been your guide, and in fact, have kept you well heretofore, 
must still be your guide. Your condition is not an unnat¬ 
ural one, calling for new laws, new habits, and this should 
be fully recognized. The exercise you have taken, you can 
still take, no matter how persistent it was—yet if excessive, 
perhaps then, with a little more moderation. The food 
that was healthy and customary, may still be continued 
without alteration, only if too meagre or sparse, it may be 
improved in quality, and increased in quantity, as a new 
creature has to be grown and nourished. 

In case of any accident or misfortune attending the child, 
there will always be ever present, those wise persons, who 
know everything; if you have exercised and attended to 
your usual occupation, they will say “you have stirred 
about too much, you have been too activeif, on the con¬ 
trary, you have been indisposed to exertion, have been 
sedentary and inactive, they are ready with their reasons, 
“ you have not moved about enough, you have been too 
quiet.” 

You should remember, from the first to the last, 
pregnancy, from its inception to its close, is not a disease, 
but a natural healthy action, ordained, regulated, and di¬ 
rected, by a Divine Creator. 'It is no season for excess, 
but one for proper attention to all the ordinary rules of 
general health, modified as they are, by peculiar idiosyn- 
cracies. 

The condition however, creates some new feelings, some 
increased and unusual wants. The sympathies of the or¬ 
gans, lead the stomach to sympathize with the new action, 


62 


OUR CHILDREN. 


going on in tlie womb. There are peculiar appetites, dis¬ 
gusts and desires. These should be regarded, as we should 
regard the same kind of feelings when nauseated or stimu¬ 
lated, as might be, by the peculiar position in which we 
are placed, in making a sea voyage and the qualms or 
appetite of an excited stomach, should be attended to in 
one case, as in the other. 

No sensible woman, will allow herself to be miserable 
and unhappy, at supposed ungratified “ longings,” while, 
when any fancied article of diet, that might be coveted for 
a moment, if practicable, should be sought for, and taken. 
The same is true, respecting any freaks of the mind. Cer¬ 
tain impulsive and strong feeling women, take freaks of 
feeling respecting individuals, great likes and equally 
strong antipathies to individuals. These feelings they are, 
—if sensible—careful to restrain, perhaps not knowing the 
general fact, that with delivery, these morbid fancies will 
pass away. % 

When I was a student myself, and a resident physician 
at a public institution, and dwelling with the warden, his 
wife took a freak of dislike to me, and refused to help me 
at the table, or even to pass my plate, and this antipathy 
continued for several months, during which time, we ex¬ 
changed never a word, possibly not even the ordinary civil¬ 
ities of social life. At the end of the time, without any 
more reason than for their coming on, she suddenly changed 
her habits, became courteous and conversational as always 
before, and even made personal overtures to me, for pro¬ 
fessional attendance in her coming labor, and never after¬ 
wards had any such vagaries. 

The prospective mother then, should not materially alter 
her habits of life, on account of the natural change in her 
condition. Any such alteration would probably have a far 
more injurious effect upon her health, than continuance in 


PHYSICAL DEMANDS OP" THE MOTHER. 


63 


a not immoderate degree in her usual occupation, habits 
of exercise, food, etc. 

It however, there be any ill health, or chronic disease, 
or general weakness, she had better seek for professional 
advice, in order to know how to conduct herself in the new 
state of things. If she has any disease of the lungs, or 
heart, or kidneys, or of any organ, she should learn how to 
act, so as not to stimulate this organ, by taking on any new 
action, or to quell it, if it should evince too great a sympa¬ 
thy with the womb, <3r its state of unwonted activity. 

If the health is delicate, the body may not be strong 
enough to provide for itself and the new creation, or if the 
stomach be weak, it may not, without help, assimilate a 
sufficiency of aliment for the growing necessity. The med¬ 
ical attendant should then advise such elements of phospho¬ 
rus and lime and iron as are materially needed, for the bone 
and stamina of the future generation, material that shall 
give the constituent elements of the bone, brain, nerves, 
and flesh of the system. 

In this respect, the physical necessity of the parturient 
mother, and the unborn child, are too apt to be neglected. 
Women do not often enough consult their medical adviser, 
or are willing to receive those elements, which otherwise 
they must with no little effort of the system, collect and 
store up, from the perhaps scanty elements found in their 
food. 

In advanced life, we frequently see this want of material 
for forming the natural parts. We see such deficiencies in 
higher forms of life, but as exemplifying this point most 
clearly, we note it markedly in the domestic fowl, which, 
when deprived of the natural material of lime necessary for 
the formation of the egg-shell, finally lays the egg with 
only a soft and pliable skin over it. If she is fed with the 
material, the after eggs have no such deficiency, but have 
shells hard and white, as is normal. 


64 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Can it be doubted, that if it were possible to attempt to 
batch this soft egg, that there would be found to be a simi¬ 
lar deficiency, in the chick within, and perhaps a like 
absence of the material requisite, for the formation of the 
bone and nerves necessary for its existence ? 

It is the province of medicine, not only to cure diseases, 
but to prevent them, and our care will enable a mother to 
bring forth children, not wanting in any of the necessities 
for sustaining a vigorous life. Delicate children, such as 
we often see them from birth, are perhaps too often the 
result of inadvertence, caprice, or gross neglect. Some¬ 
times indeed, their physical debility is due to the unsuc¬ 
cessful efforts, made by foolish mothers to prevent becoming 
pregnant, and far more frequently, from the failure of the 
efforts made to get rid of them, in the early period of foetal 
life. Who can doubt, that the quantity of powerful medi¬ 
cine, acting directly upon the womb, or the violent but 
resultless operations made to produce abortions, followed 
by more or less local irritation, hemorrhage, leucorrhoea, 
physical and nervous exhaustion, and mental anxieties— 
who can doubt that these must have a very great effect 
upon the vigor, vitality, and constitution of the child, that 
that has withstood such attempts against its existence. 

Far more dreadful than anything else to a mother, it 
must be, to see a weakly, sickly child, having so many 
holds on her affections, yet pining into an early grave, and 
to think that this is owing to her own direct instrumentality. 
Far worse that a Borgia murderess, self-reproved, must be 
her daily punishment, at the sight of this result of her own 
sinful acts! 

And yet, this is one of the common customs of the times. 
The proportion of women at the present day, who in some 
unnatural, violent way, are striving to avoid the necessities 
of their nature, seems to be at least nine tenths of the entire 
number. - 



A SERIOUS THOUGHT FOR MOTHERS. 


65 


The sparrow, that builds its nest in the eaves of the house, 
the sea-gull, which makes its wild aerie by the side of the 
ever restless ocean, seems to entertain no doubt that Provi¬ 
dence will provide for the food of the young she is to pro¬ 
duce, but she “ who is made hut little lower than the angels ” 
refuses this same trust. She lazily shirks the position that 
shall develop her whole nature, that shall gild a virtuous 
life with brightest gold, and as a true mother, raise her to 
a pinnacle of glory, that man can never attain, creating 
herself an object of the sublimest adoration, to be hence¬ 
forth respected by all mankind, and an object of reverence 
and worship, by her own children, next to her God ! 

I would fain impress the fact upon the minds of the 
women of the world, that the temper in which children are 
generated, the spirit in which they are for nine months 
carried within the womb, most markedly and seriously affect 
their natures, their intelligence, their moral characters, in 
the same manner, as I have already stated that their phy¬ 
sical stamina was dependent, and a direct, most assured 
consequent, upon the physical condition of the parent. 

How often do we hear mothers say of their children, “ I 
don’t know who he, or she, takes after; there is no one in 
my family, that has such traits.” No! the child is the 
offspring, and marked by the devilish spirit, that filled 
your bosom for so long a period, in its initial being. Long 
before it could move, or show any signs of vitality, "it was 
met with regret, and sorrow, and perhaps, with disgust and 
curses. You tried by every means that you could, without 
damage to your own health, to destroy it. You sought 
for fatigue, and unwonted exertions to disembarass yourself 
of this undesired burden ; you seem to forget, that “ as the 
twig is bent, so is the tree inclined.” 

I am aware, that I have already partially stated these 
6ame views in another connection, but at the present day, 


66 


OUR CHILDREN. 


they cannot he too often, or too forcibly repeated. I would 
that with trumpet power, I might so speak, as to touch 
every woman’s heart, and head; that I might convince her 
reason, probe her conscience, and compel her to a future 
course of rectitude. 

It follows then, as a resume of the chapter, that it is the 
bounden duty of both husband and wife, to enter upon the 
duties of married life, with a zealous aim to perform them 
to the utmost, with a sacred zeal. That, as the holy duty 
of the creator of a new being, embued with intelligence, 
and endowed with a spirit, capable of immortality, is in 
their hands, that they should see well to it, that they enter 
upon the work, with perfect organism in the flesh, of 
health with the mind, and both unitedly attuned to the 
holy work, and that to it, they shall lend their every 
energy. Upon such a work, God will surely lend his 
sanction, and having thus, put your own shoulder to the 
wheel, you can conscientiously and hopingly call for his 
divine blessing. 


CHAPTER IY. 


THE PROPER NUTRIMENT FOR CHILDREN. 

NUKE the young of all animals, the baby is utterly 



U and entirely incapable of doing the slightest service 
for itself. The young chicken is scarce emerged from the 
shell, before it is picking up some nutriment, which by in¬ 
stinct, it knows will conduce to its health and sustinence. 
The pup and the kitten toddle about on their weak legs, 
and blind though they be, by the light of instinct, are yet 
enabled to find the udder of its dam, and to get the flowing 
teat into its greedy mouth. How feeble in comparison, is 
the new-born babe! Far less than walk, it cannot hold up 
its head, for its neck seems a bulrush, from which it bobs 
about in helpless unrest. Its eyes indeed are open, but it 
gazes into obscurity, and not a gleam of intelligence is 
evinced in any action, of its own volition. Indeed, whether 
or not, it posseses the faculty of hearing, or vision, or any 
of the senses is indeterminable, for some weeks time after 
birth. So far from being able to find its nutriment, it must 
be put to the breast, and the nipple actually inserted be¬ 
tween its senseless gums. Were any thing else than this 
done, the child would unquestionably starve, so absolutely 
wanting is it in any capacity for action, or signs of knowl¬ 
edge. 

The child then, has no opportunity for exercising any 
desire for any kind of food, and is compelled to take, and 
swallow anything, that its parents or nurse may wisely, or 
foolishly, be desirous of giving it. 


/ 


68 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Nor lias tlie cliild any development of the organ of taste. 
True, it may recognize anything cold or hot, for it can feel, 
and if burnt with fiery fluid, or chilled by a frozen liquid, 
it will evince these sensations. But any bland, and non-ir- 
ritatory drink, it will, till several weeks old, take, and rec¬ 
ognize no difference between water, milk, and castor oil, 
if of the same temperature. Advantage is taken of this 
absence of taste, in the young babe, to its benefit and its 
injury, for in its simplicity, it will swallow the multitudi¬ 
nous concoctions of fretty and over nice nurses, or the 
nauseous castor oil, and other medicaments, which are pre¬ 
scribed for it by the physician. 

And this is the future lord of the Universe ! The orig¬ 
inal development of the w r orld itself from nothing, was a 
fitting ante-type of this daily repeated new creation. 

As the child has neither power nor sensual taste, so too, 
it is equally deficient in other faculties. Those eyes, which 
apparently gaze upon one’s face, with such an intelligent 
look, are entirely void of observation. If by chance, the 
light of heaven enters wdtliin those beaming orbs, and if 
the optic mirror, reflects the form of the doting parent ca¬ 
ressing it, no responsive thought comes from the sensorium: 
the beautiful babe, so instinct with apparent life and intel¬ 
ligence, is practically little better than a waxen doll. Slow¬ 
ly indeed, are the laggard senses crowded to their powers 
of observation, and more tardy still, does reason take its 
seat within that dome of thought, as gradually, as the 
crystal grains of the diamond are deposited in the hidden 
recesses of the rocky caverns, but as surely as its polygonal 
, prisms are slowly built up, is the human intellect developed 
and perfected. We cannot see its processes, nor stimulate 
its growth; we can but watch and wait. 

What however we may learn, and noting remember, to 
our own and its benefit, is the palpable fact, that for months 


EARLY GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN 


69 


after its birtli, the child knows nothing, appreciates nothing, 
reasons upon nothing, of its own volition. All that it 
learns, is what we teach it, and in some things, it is an apt 
scholar, and it behooves ns to attend to the facts, that we 
may insensibly present to it. 

Perhaps the first gleam of intelligence it may show, is 
respecting the food it takes, and the method by which it 
receives this nourishment. The nurse may have fed it 
with sweetened milk, and with a spoon. Instinct taught 
it before, to suck upon anything put into its mouth. The 
calf, equally well, and with no higher knowledge, will suck 
the finger, or its dam’s teat. But if the child has found 
that it has but to open its mouth, and the milk is poured 
into it, and it has naught to do but to swallow, it will refuse 
the labor of tedious sucking, and will cry and fret, because 
the firm nipple and the turgid breast, require an effort, 
before they will unload their treasures. 

Yery soon too, the child discovers that it has but to cry, 
to be taken up, petted, nursed, done something with. Alas 
for the tender-hearted mother, who has taught her babe so 
soon this lesson! Thenceforth, there is no rest for her. 
Alike by day and by night, in season and out of season, 
she is a slave to the whims and volitions of this most tyr- 
ranical of rulers—the petted babe. 

The true method is, to recognize the fact, that the child 
has no knowledge, judgment, or reason. It seems absurd, 
to seriously put this statement, into the dignity of print; 
but it is one of the most important facts in practical life, 
for on the actions which shall result therefrom, depend not 
only the well-being of the babe, the future of the child, 
perhaps the ultimate character of the grown man, and most 
assuredly the happiness of the parents, and perhaps the future 
thought, whether or not children are the curses of life, and, 
as a corollary, that any means are justifiable to prevent 
their conception, their development, and birth. 


70 


OUR CHILDREN. 


The mother will not he a slave to the child, the father 
will not have his nights harassed, after the fatigue of his 
day’s toils, if the lesson is early learnt, that the child has 
no other intelligence, than that we give to it, by our fool¬ 
ishness or our pride. 

To recapitulate. The child has one instinct at birth, 
viz: to suck, to suck always, to suck ever. It has one 
other faculty—to cry; to cry when it wants to suck, to cry 
when it don’t want to suck, to cry when it is sleepy, to cry 
when it awakes, to cry when it is disturbed in any manner. 
The first reasoning it makes is, that if it cries, it is nursed. 
It soon discovers that it likes to nurse, and then it cries 
constantly. The fault is not the child’s, it is the parents’. 

The first knowledge that the young mother should 
possess is, that children require to be nursed , not oftener 
than once every two hours. I make this as a primitive 
assertion, and perhaps it would he better for me to leave it 
thus, as a Catholic dogma, based on scientific infallibility. 
Medical edicts, have sometimes more effect when pro¬ 
pounded ex-cathedra , than when their reasoning is given. 

It requires a definite period, for any food to be digested 
in the stomach; it is then in the form of chyle, passed into 
the duodenum, and large intestines, to be assimilated, 
taken up, and otherwise disposed of, by the animal economy. 

The first operation, after the stomach of the child is filled 
with milk, is for the natural rennet or pepsine of the stom¬ 
ach, to curdle the milk, that is, to separate the liquid por¬ 
tion from the solid. The liquid portion is mainly water, 
aud this is speedily absorbed, secreted by the kidneys, and 
much of it is passed off from the system, the remainder 
being exhaled by the lungs, by the inward perspiration, etc. 

The remaining curd, the sugar, the salts, are attacked by 
the gastric juice, and after a period are decomposed, changed 
to the chyle, impure blood, pure blood, etc. etc., going 


MANNER OF DIGESTION 


71 


through the routine of supporting life and constitution, to 
the growth and general development of the being. This 
operation is not one of a moment’s work. Indeed, the two 
hours’ time spoken of, is fully occupied by this alembical 
duty. If new material is put into the stomach, while the 
first batch is in process of transmutation, the whole ope¬ 
ration is disturbed. If it is added to, in any great quantity, 
some of the contents of the stomach must be pushed out, 
to make way for the new addition, and in this manner, the 
duodenum is prematurely filled with a mass of material, 
part, of half-digested food, and part, of the crude new addi¬ 
tion. The result is, as might be expected. The imperfectly 
digested food, is unfit for assimilation, and remains a bur¬ 
then and a disturbance in the bowels, till with extra exer¬ 
tion of the irritated organs, it is passed along by griping 
contractions, decomposing as it goes, and creating wind., 
and acidifying and irritating, and thus disturbing the child, 
who expresses its pain and griefs in the only manner it 
knows, viz., by its cries. 

The mother, hearing its moan, in her ignorance gives it 
more of the breast; the child, in its ignorance, does the 
only other thing it knows besides crying—it sucks. With 
every draw, the trouble is renewed—now says the mother, 
“ the baby surely has the stomach ache.” Catnip tea is 
next resorted to, and the over-loaded stomach is still fur¬ 
ther distended, and some soothing syrup or other narcotic 
is finally called for, and the stupefied babe, finds in a con¬ 
sequent prolonged sleep, an opportunity for the quiet 
digestion or excretion of the offending substances. 

The next day finds it worn with digestion, debilitated 
by this improper usage—it can but cry; you know the rou¬ 
tine—and thus the mother has her time constantly employed 
with a “ cross baby,” the result of her own incorrect actions; 
—and the child! this is ready for cholera infantum, at any 


72 


OUR CHILDREN. 


time when the temperature rises to 80°, or a sudden change 
in the atmosphere developes disease. 

The second knowledge for the mother is, that children 
do not require to be nursed more than once in the night. 
This is a lesson to be taught early. To properly teach the 
lesson, the child should not be permitted to sleep by the 
side of the mother, but from birth, should be placed in a 
crib or cradle. There is no worse slavery for the mother, 
than to have the babe lying at the breast and nursing, at 
short intervals during the night. The habit once com¬ 
menced, is extremely hard to break, and when the child 
is large, the drain upon the mother is very exhausting, and 
is really a cause of death to many mothers. Also for rea¬ 
sons already given, the constant sucking is deleterious for 
the child. 

If other reasons are necessary, the danger to the child, 
from being smothered under the bed-clothes; the injury it 
receives from breathing the vitiated air, if not smothered 
actually; the liability it runs, to being overlaid, are addi¬ 
tional inducements for placing the child by itself, convenient 
to the bed of the mother. 

Third knowledge. There is no better food for a child, 
than that ordained by a wise Providence. Until the pres¬ 
ence of teeth evinces, that nature is capable of receiving a 
change of food, the breast is amply capable of sustaining 
nature, and supplying every demand for life and growth. 
If the supply is adequate, there is no need of any, but un¬ 
fortunately at the present day, many mothers with all 
desire, have not sufficient milk for a child, and require help 
from extraneous sources, and occasionally there are twins, 
thus making a double lacteal demand. Undoubtedly the 
best, but the most costly, often very annoying, and some¬ 
times impossible succedaneum, is a wet nurse, ca va sans 
dire . 


ADVICE GRATIS. 


73 


Scarcely a day passes, but I am addressed very nearly 
as follows, with some slight variations, according to the 
means of the individual: “ Doctor, what shall I give my 
baby to eat ? I lind he wants more than I can give him, 
and I have so many things recommended to me—grits, 
prepared barley, com starch, Liebig’s imitation milk, and 
dozens of others. Some say I had better get a goat, and 
keep her in my back-yard. Father wants me to keep a 
cow in his stable, so that w r e can have one cow’s milk. I 
really wish you would give me some advice, and so settle 
the question.” Yes, Mrs.-. You ask me a very sim¬ 

ple question, and, of course, as you meet me by chance, 
you don’t expect me to go home and charge your husband 
with a ten-dollar fee for advice ? But you want my opin¬ 
ion, and will act upon it, and so you shift the whole re¬ 
sponsibility of the matter on to me, which means that if 
anything occurs unfortunate—if the baby gets a diarrhoea, 
or summer complaint while teething, or a fit, or gets thin, 
or has a “ milk crust ” on its darling head, “ the dear little 
tootsy-pootsy ”—that you will be “ down on me,” for Mrs. 
Grundy said it was all owing to—or to—or something else 
which the doctor advised. 

"Well, I am used to taking the responsibility of “ little 
responsibilities,” and, at my age, I am not going to com¬ 
mence to shirk, and as you don’t think it would be quite 
handsome for me to go home—after standing here on the 
corner, and talking with you for half an hour—and “ charge 
it,” I won’t: but let me suggest to you: My birthday is 
July 31st; if you should chance to remember your old 
doctor, and send him a case of “ Consular Seal,” or “ Lac 
d’Or,” I’ll bet he wouldn’t send it back, or be any slower 
getting to your house, the next time you get an idea that 
the darling is going to have the measles, even if his dinner 
gets spoiled. 


4 


OUR CHILDREN. 


74 

God intended that babies should drink milk till they had 
teeth to eat something else, and sense enough to chew 
their food. Of course, that don’t mean four teeth, and a 
capacity for tearing off a “ hunk ” of meat and swallowing 
it whole. But you are not quite the mother, that was 
intended to nourish a child. You are a city-bred lady; 
you are too delicate to walk even, to say nothing of work¬ 
ing in the open air, whereby alone, health comes, that can 
be transmitted to following generations. Well, it can’t be 
helped now, and we must find a substitute the best we 
can. 

The cow, is the best possible. Why ? Because the 
character of her milk, is more nearly that of the food that 
nature intended a child to take, till it was a year or eigh¬ 
teen months old, than anything else that we can obtain— 
if the cow is healthy, and fed on proper food. Her milk 
is a little less sweet, and has a little more cheese material 
than yours; so if you will add half water, and sweeten with 
cane-sugar, you have about the same as nature intended. 
But if you get city-milk, or “ swill-milk,” you get a differ-, 
ent article—one that contains less sugar, and twice as much 
curd, as is natural. 

But this is not all, although it is about all that chemistry 
shows us. When I made the first scientific examinations 
ever made of swill-milk (see my original report made to 
the Hew York Academy of Medicine, in 1848), it was dis¬ 
covered, that there was a peculiar characteristic about it— 
the globules which, in healthy milk, should float freely in 
the watery portion, in the swill-milk were seen, under the 
microscope, to stick together, with a tenacity that prevented 
their being separated. The result, practically, was that 
there was formed a curd in the child’s stomach, so tenacious 
that it was not easily digested by the child, and either passed 
away as a foreign body, undigested, giving rise to diarrhoeas, 


DON'T GET A GOAT. 


76 


convulsions, and the whole train of infantile diseases, or 
was digested with great difficulty. The milk was found 
to “ keep ” much longer than ordinary milk without sour¬ 
ing, and it kept much too long, after being in the stomach 
of the delicate child before it was digested. How many 
parents, fearful of all this, of which they have heard so 
much, and seen so mauy illustrations in Frank Leslies 
Illustrated Paper in the past day, are so afraid of milk, 
that they try everything that grocers and apothecaries want 
to sell. 

It is true that children may worry through a diet of 
grits and barleys, but even if they do, these articles do not 
contain a sufficiency of the elements from which to make 
bones and teeth. One great reason of the poor teeth of 
the rising generation, is the poor material of which they 
are constructed. The Israelites brick-making without 
straw, was nothing to making teeth without the lime, phos¬ 
phorus, etc., of which they are composed. Don’t be talked 
into feeding children with any Liebig’s chemical food 
for babies, or prepared barley or arrow-root. The real 
nutriment of most of these, or, at least, that nutriment 
which a little babe can take up and assimilate, comes 
mainly from the milk and sugar with which they are di¬ 
rected to be mixed. Arrow-root and corn-starch made 
with water alone, will starve your child in a week’s tune, 
unless it has other food. 

Don’t get a goat; they are dirty creatures, and coarse 
feeders. They prefer brown paper, as it comes- from the 
grocer, to the best hay, and they will eat it covered with 
grease, whiting, iron rust, mud, printing-ink; and I even 
knew one goat killed by eating a brown paper, with its 
contents, which chanced to be arsenic for killing rats. 
More than that, the milk, at the best, is too curdy for any 
delicate child, although a very hearty one, of some months 
old, may get along with it. — 


76 


OUR CHILDREN’. 


Don’t try a city cow, kept in a stable, tied by the neck, 
and supposed to be “exercised daily by our John.” Just 
see how faithfully John attends to matters directly under 
your eye, and imagine how he exercises that “ darned old 
cow,” as he styles her. If you doubt, go to the stable and 
just look at her once—when John don’t know that you 
are coming—look at the bed and her hoofs. If there is a 
swindle in the city, it is what is called “one-cow’s milk.” 
Go look at her ! You are willing to spend all day traveling 
between Lord & Taylor’s and Stewart’s, but you never 
looked at your “ one cow,” or found out how many got 
“ one-cow’s milk ” from her, what she had to eat, and how 
near the Croton ran to the cow-house! 

Now, my dear reader, good milk can be obtained in 
New York, upon which you may feed a baby with perfect 
safety, and I can vouch for its purity in every particular, 
for I have drank it daily for ten years. I have been to 
the places whence it comes, solely to see that there were 
no beer-swill factories in the vicinity, and I personally 
know the principal men, who have the charge of the busi¬ 
ness. The Rockland County Milk Association, 411 Sev¬ 
enth Avenue, and 71 Fourth Avenue, New York, and No. 
12 Nassau Street, Brooklyn, furnish pure natural milk. 
Connected with them, is the Canfield’s Condensed Milk 
Company, who make condensed milk, which is better for 
coftee, and in the heat of summer, more sure of not being 
sour, and is nothing but pure milk boiled down, and the 
cream is not skimmed off before condensing, as some of 
the companies have done, particularly for army contracts, 
for you know “ anything was good enough for the army.” 

Now, if your baby has a very weak digestion, and if the 
curds pass through unchanged—white and hard—let the 
milk stand before using, and, after the curd has settled, and 
the cream risen, pour off the top for the baby’s use. If that 


BABY FOOD . 


77 


don’t obviate the trouble, feed with cream and water and 
sugar for a few days. Children are rarely constipated 
when their food does not agree with tnem, so there will 
rarely be any call for medicine, and, above all, none for 
mercurials, in any form, which doctors were formerly very 
fond of giving, upon Hoyle’s whist rule, that, “ When you 
don’t know what to lead, play trumps. 

If the eructations are sour, a little soda may be put into 
the milk, or a powder of the carbonate of bismuth and 
pepsine, each two grains for a child six months, or three 
grains, if about nine months or over, three times a day, 
put into a teaspoonful of its food, will be found very useful, 
and cannot possibly be of any disadvantage, in any state 
of the system. If the child is doing well, as it gets stronger 
or older, give him a big piece of hard, juicy beef, and let 
him pull away at it, and daub himself all over—there is 
plenty of soap—it will both amuse him, and the juices will 
be advantageous. Give him a tablespoonful of the running 
juices of roast beef or mutton from the dish; or beat up 
the white of an egg to a stiff froth, and add a cup of milk 
•with a little sugar; half in the forenoon, and half in the 
afternoon ; if weakly, with a half teaspoonful of pure 
brandy with each. Drop the yolk into some boiling 
•water, and feed it to him with a little salt. 

I know, my dear young mother, that you feel very kindly 
to me for all this advice, but don’t testify it as did a French 
lady, who showed her gratitude, on my leaving Paris, 
where I studied medicine in 1844. She gave me a pencil, 
on the sealed-head of which, she had caused to be engraved 
“ D. G.” I inquired what the letters meant. The reply 
was: “ They are your initials!—Doctor Gardner.” 

People who live in the country, and more especially 
those, who sell milk, butter, or cheese, recognize great 
difference in the milk of their different cows. Butter- 


78 


OUR CHILDREN. 


makers want Alderney’s, cows tliat give a smaller quantity 
of milk, very rick with cream. Milk-sellers want large 
yielding cows, no matter how watery and blue. What we 
want for a growing child, is the creamy fluid, yellow and 
“buttery” to the sight, or as it is sometimes phrased, 
“with the color of the daisies—(milk weed?)—upon it,” 
albeit it is very much to be hoped, that the critter hasn’t 
touched one of them. 

I^HPOne other parting remark on this subject. Every 
mother of any experience recognizes, that when nursing 
an infant, if by chance she become pregnant again, that 
there is immediate diminution in the quantity of her milk; 
most commonly too, her first suspicion of the fact, is derived 
from noticing that the nursling is disturbed, that it vomits 
frequently, perhaps has an accompanying looseness of the 
bowels, is fretful and uncomfortable, evidently does not 
thrive; in fact, sometimes markedly deteriorates, “poor 
thing,” she says, “ it is his teeth a-working on him,”—and 
for a time, she thinks so, until finally comes a suspicion, 
soon changed to a certainty, that “ she is caught again.” 

The mother thus notes this depravation of her own milk, 
but no one has till now, drawn attention to the fact, that 
the cow’s milk substituted, is almost always equally dete- 
teriorated. The cow has not been delivered of the calf, for 
more than two or three months, before she is again preg¬ 
nant with another, “ to come in ” in the following spring. 
She has henceforth to supply the coming calf, with material 
for its growth in utero, and also to furnish the milk which 
is to sustain your child. 

If one wishes to observe the effect, he need only to look 
at ordinary milk, and then at that which is drawn from a 
“ farrow ” cow, one of which, is apt to be kept by the far¬ 
mer, to furnish his winter’s milk. The latter is small in 
quantity, rarely more than three to five quarts a day, thick 


FARROW COW'S MILK. 


79 


in consistency, rich in cream, and so strong and rank in 
flavor, as to be disagreeable to many, and quite unpalatable 
as a beverage. This however, contains all the nitrogenous 
elements which are required for the bone and brain of the 
growing child; city people cannot procure such milk, and 
are compelled to resort to chemical equivalents as substi¬ 
tutes, and the phosphates of iron, soda, and lime, are used 
for bony material, and cod liver oil, etc:, for the fat and 
muscle. 


DISEASE IN THE TEETH. 

It is perhaps in no small degree, owing to this want of 
the essential chemical material in the milk, upon which 
children are raised, that we find so much disease in the 
teeth of the young of the present day. We find many 
children, whose first teeth are all black, decayed, crumbled 
away, long before the second set have started into being. 
We see children of two and three years of age, crying with 
the tooth-ache, and we find the dentists engaged, either in 
extracting (horrible for adults, and worse, if possible, for 
poor little babes, whose sorrows come all too soon), or bet¬ 
ter still, in stopping with temporary fillings of gutta-percha, 
cement, or tin, the premature cavities in the first teeth. 

We find too, the second set coming out from their deep 
recesses, in the alveola processes, where no food could 
lodge and corrode, where no diseased secretions from the 
mouth or stomach, could reach—we find these teeth, 
ushered into being, specked, decayed, imperfectly organized, 
and sometimes but half covered with enamel, and these 
teeth too tender, and illy protected, to bear even the seed 
of ripe fruit, sensitive to the sweet of sugar, to the slightest 
heat or cold; valueless for ornament, and almost useless 
for mastication. 

gome have ascribed these imperfections to the effects of 


80 


OUR CHILDREN 1 


medicine, taken in earlier childhood, to mercury, which 
has acted upon the teeth; hut the instances are noted, where 
no corrosive medicine, or mercurial treatment has been 
adopted, and the conviction is forced upon us, that the 
cause is the want of proper material , in the ordinary food 
of the child —that the phosphates of the milk, have gone 
to the development of the calf within the cow, that has 
given this imperfect milk; that the nitrogenous portion of 
the flour, which has formed the white and beautiful looking 
bread, upon which the child has been fed, has been bolted 
and sifted from the ground wheat, till the flour which is 
left, and upon which our bread is made, has little more in 
it, than simple starch, a substance in itself, utterly incapable 
of sustaining life, far less to grow, develop, and energize, 
and create bone and nerve for a new creature. 

Such was not the state of things in past days. Our 
grand-parents lived on coarsely ground flour, and corn 
black with the unbolted husks, rich in phosphates, ammo- 
niates, and they had no dentists, and never knew what a 
tooth-brush was. The Aboriginal Indians crushed their 
corn between two stones, roasted it in the ashes of the 
camp-fire, and went to their graves, with a mouth full of 
sound teeth, as evinced by their remains, found in the large 
burial mounds of our West. 

Contrast the teeth of the negro population of the South, 
who live on corn-dodgers, and fare made from hard ground 
meal, or unbolted flour from the mills, with the same peo¬ 
ple, under the malign influences of civilization. The 
northern negro, too fond of imitating the vices of his 
betters, but in this respect, compelled to adopt their im¬ 
proper food, lives on the bolted flour of the bakery, eats 
the sugar and molasses, with its better principles bleached 
out of it—his teeth, once the shining glory of his race, 
synonomous with ivory, for their whiteness, “ are no better 


A PARAMOUNT NEED. 


81 


than white folks’.” They too, prematurely decay, and are 
lost, and for the same reason. 

Is there any deduction for these undoubted, uncontro¬ 
vertible statements ? Are these facts to be only interesting, 
scientific statements, illustrating physical degeneration, or 
is there a moral and an instructive lesson to be deduced 
therefrom ? Are the future parents of this country, to go 
on in wrong-doing, apparently with the grand aim of their 
lives, to develop dentists from tooth-drawing barbers, and 
to pour the wealth of the land into their laps ? 

The real lesson to be expected from this and other simi¬ 
lar facts, is to recognize children as children, finding them 
proper food—milk and bread—as infants; next, to keep 
them as children, until they have passed the growing, de¬ 
veloping age, till they have acquired habits and tastes 
formed by our knowledge. To this end, it is especially 
incumbent upon parents, more particularly the richer, lux¬ 
urious living classes, especially the city resident, with his 
late hours, his pampered, more unnatural food, to keep a 
nursery and a children’s table, with food appropriate to 
their portion as developing creatures, unformed, immature, 
whose constitutions are to be made and strengthened by 
every care, and to last for a prolonged life. 

You would hoot at a house-builder, who would pile up 
his marble edifice, and atttempt to store it with goods, 
regardless whether the lowest range of stone was placed 
upon a solid rock, or a fleetirg quick-sand; but you pro¬ 
ceed to develop a man, and fill him with high ideas, and 
lofty thoughts, regardless whether the primary element of 
health and strength are present, upon which to found all! 

A children’s nursery; a children’s table, is the crying 
necessity of American life. It is found nowhere through¬ 
out our land, but the babe in arms, is taken to the table 
with its parents, before it has teeth, or learns to wield a 
4 * 


82 


OUR CHILDREN. 


spoon and a fork, and while yet it is a nurseling, it eats 
almost indiscriminately from off the family board. Five- 
year old children, at a six o’clock dinner, eating meat, veg¬ 
etables, corn, tomatoes, melons, coffee and tea, and per¬ 
haps a sip from his father’s glass of wine or whisky!! 

It is unnecessary to attempt any argument upon such ex¬ 
isting state of things. The reason of every one—none the 
less of those, who are g uilty of these gross sins, against 
the ordinary laws of life and health—will admit its impro¬ 
priety, and the only excuse that they can urge is the love 
they bear for their petted “ little men.” Did they hate 
them with fierce hatred, and strive by all lawful means, to 
get rid of them by exposure to cholera infantum, and kin¬ 
dred ailments, they could take no quicker, or more effica¬ 
cious means. Did they wish to destroy their constitutions, 
rack with future dyspepsias and anomalous ills, they could 
set about it in no better manner. * 

You would like to have me furnish you, with a regimen 
for your children? How is that possible? How can we 
make a set formula, a dietary which must be interfered 
with in a thousand ways by the necessities of individual 
family life, by the place where you live, the food that it is 
possible to obtain there ? Ho, I can but give you general 
ideas, and you must use your own brains, to adopt general 
principles to your special case. 

“ But is it good to give children meat ?” and “ how old 
must they be to take it ?” and ain’t tomatoes, and black¬ 
berries, and fruit generally healthy ?” you certainly 
wouldn’t object to molasses, or bread and sugar for lunch ? 
and don’t you let children eat candy at all ?” * 

How my dear ladies, take breath I implore you. Com¬ 
mon sense is all that is required, to answer all these que¬ 
ries. I give you the common sense replies—no especial 
lore, no ex cathedra dogmas. 


CHILDRENS FOOD. 


83 


We are given teeth like the horse and ox, like the dog 
and wolf; we share this variety with the hog and bear ; we 
are intended to eat all varieties of food—flesh, like the car¬ 
nivorous beasts; grasses and grains and vegetables, like the 
graminivorous. The child should eat meat, when it has sharp 
incisor teeth to cut it with, and grains and fruit, when the 
grinders are furnished to comminute and pulverize it. 

When the child is about fourteen months, old, its front 
teeth commeuce to be seen. Up to this period, as already 
said, the mother’s milk is the proper and only food, or its 
equivalent in cow’s milk. The same is true of your pup 
and your kitten. If before they have teeth, they eat much 
meat, they sicken, get fits, and frequently die. The suck¬ 
ling calf does not attempt to eat grass or hay, but may be 
trained to eat meal and water. 

When the teeth appear, give it a little mutton broth, or 
beef tea, if necessary, or a bit of roast beef or beef steak, 
to mumble and suck. When the grinders are well forward, 
give it potatoes, and bread and butter, and healthy ripe 
fruit, like baked sweet apples, or a raw apple early in the 
day, a peach or two, grapes, if they will cast away the skins 
and seeds. To allow these to be swallowed, is to invite a 
convulsion, and disturbance of the stomach and bowels. 
Berries are healthy, but for young children, the seeds of 
blackberries are almost sure to cause some bowel disturb¬ 
ance, if eaten in any quantity. The same is true of toma¬ 
toes ; peaches are healthy, and so too are dates. Preserves, 
on the contrary, are very indigestible, and even when 
cooked, are very laxative to most. No fruit is desirable, 
after the noon is passed, but young children should not be 
permitted to eat it, except at breakfast, and at or before a 
noon dinner. Molasses, and sugar, are proper articles of 
food, and may be eaten at meals with safety and utility. 

Children under puberty, should not drink tea or coffee, 


84 : 


OUR CHILDREN. 


more than spirits or wine. They are luxuries only, to those 
accustomed to them; they are nervous stimulants, which 
children have no occasion for. If taken strong, they are 
markedly predjudicial to the general health. Tea, if taken 
strong, and upon an empty stomach, will make even one 
accustomed to it, nauseated. 

If however, you think it desirable to give your 
children some warm, healthy drink, get barley malt at any 
brewery; roast, and grind it like ordinary coffee, and make 
an infusion in the same manner. This is a very pleasant 
beverage, very palatable for children, with milk and sugar, 
strengthening, nutritious, and without any objectionable 
results. Chocolate and shells are also unobjectionable, as 
children’s morning drink. 

CANDY-EATING. 

Every little while, the public mind is excited, respecting 
the alleged unhealthiness of some of the ordinary articles 
of food. Last year, it was the trichinea in meats, especially 
in pork, and so seriously did this question affect the con¬ 
sumption of the latter, that for a time, the price was mark¬ 
edly lowered. At another period, the ills arising from 
swill-milk agitate the community. These excitements are 
of tempory duration, and, as the bosom of a placid lake, 
ruffled by school-boys’ pebbles, soon becomes smooth, so 
these excitations soon pass away, and matters resume their 
ordinary course. 

To day, the interest is centered upon candies, and the old 
question, so oft mooted, is again brought up and discussed, 
relative to the healthiness of candies generally. There is 
in this, as in most other similar questions, a common-sense 
view, alike distant from either extreme, and this I will 
endeavor to point out. 

Sugar is one of the most valuable alimentary principles 
in the food of man, among which we may enumerate albu- 


IS CANDY WHOLESOME? 


85 


men, gelatine, fat, starch, gum, etc. Now, while these 
elements enter, in various combinations, into all our food, 
and in this form are most nutritious, each contributing its 
proportion toward the general support of the body, each 
one alone is, generally speaking, incapable of continuing 
life for any prolonged period. Experiments upon dogs 
evince this fact. Sugar is found in almost every form of 
our food, and is thus one of the most important of the nu¬ 
tritious elements. Those, therefore, who assert that candy¬ 
eating is injurious, must do so from some additional reason. 

Candy is simply flavored sugar. If it is improperly 
made, adulterated, or rendered poisonous by coloring mat¬ 
ter, the charge should not be made against candy, but 
against false or fraudulent candy. If dishonest makers add 
terra alba —a white aluminous earth of no value—or plaster 
or clay, to cheapen its cost, or if they color it with poison¬ 
ous pigments to obtain a cheap brilliancy, it is no argument 
against pure candies. These frauds are daily committed, 
and so serious are the results, that many children are 
yearly killed, by the direct action of the arsenic and verdi¬ 
gris, used in this foul manufacture. The argument is, then, 
against buying candies from unprincipled, and generally 
from unknown makers. 

But is pure candy wholesome ? Most certainly it is. I 
do not say that you should keep your child’s pocket filled 
with sugar-plums; neither should they have them filled 
with peanuts, or raisins, or figs—all of which are, like 
sugar-candy, healthy, and proper to be eaten at proper 
times, and in proper quantities. As I have repeatedly 
said in other places, respecting the use of vinous and 
spiritous drinks, everything on the earth was intended for 
the use of man, whose duty is to use, and not abuse, these 
varied gifts of God. Sugar is undeniably a proper article 
of food, both in its natural union with other articles of food, 
or separated by the cunning of man. 


86 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


Candy should not be habitually eaten at irregular times, 
so as to destroy the healthy appetite for food, but it may 
appear with advantage at the dessert, and may advantage¬ 
ously form part of the ordinary meal. In this manner it 
will be found more healthful, less expensive, and far more 
agreeable, than the pies and puddings generally seen on 
the family table. From my youth, I have been in the 
habit of seeing a pound of candy serve as a substitute for 
the tarts, so generally seen as the after-dinner bonne bouche. 

It is incorrectly alleged, that sugar is injurious to the 
teeth, and some erroneous statements have been made that 
a simple syrup will dissolve a tooth placed in it. There is 
no truth in these statements. The facts are simply these: 
sugar dissolved in water, and heated, soon turns acid, and 
this acid may injure the teeth. Again, sugar eaten to 
such excess as to disturb the digestion, will, as well as many 
other forms of nutriment, produce acid saliva, which acts 
injuriously upon the teeth. Indeed, it is the fact that 
while teeth are affected by the food lodging between them, 
and acidifying and acting on the teeth, far more are de¬ 
stroyed by the acrid secretions from the glands, which 
furnish the saliva lubricating the mouth, the result of 
acidity of the stomach, from dispeptic difficulties. This 
fact is obvious, from observing teeth which are decayed 
before they are fully grown, and even sometimes before 
they cut through the gum, and are visible to the eye. 

Candies are among the luxuries of the civilized world, 
and we should eat them as food when we desire, not, as is 
too often the case, between meals. We should recognize 
the fact that sugar quickly ferments, and carefully rinse 
the mouth free from all remains. 

Finally, we should exercise especial care in eating sugar¬ 
plums, which are very apt to be made of flour, plaster or 
terra alba , with a covering of sugar externally. These 


THE CHILDREN'S TABLE . 


87 


adulterations are easily recognized, for if a piece of the 
candy is dissolved in the water, these insoluble ingredients 
fall to the bottom. We should avoid all candies of high 
colors, especially bright greens, which, when very bright 
and handsome, are invariably colored with deleterious 
substances. 

When you buy candy yourself, go to Maillard’s, Rid¬ 
ley’s, or to Hodgkin’s old store in Greenwich street, near 
Courtlandt, now kept by Smith, or any other that you 
know makes pure candies. I made very careful scientific 
examinations of these manufactories, more than ten years 
ago, going over the establishments carefully, and prying 
into the coloring materials and flavors used by them, and 
can therefore assuredly state, the absolute purity of the 
goods produced by these makers. The reports I then 
made, were published in the medical journals of the day in 
this city, in connection with other hygienic investigations, 
and it was at the time of a similar public excitement, 
respecting the deleterious character of certain new flavors 
of banana, nectarine, and the like, made by certain com¬ 
pounds of fusel oil. 

The truth is now, as it was then, that certain unprinci¬ 
pled men will adopt any means, to undersell their compe¬ 
titors. If a few individuals are made severely sick, and a 
score of delicate children are killed, it is of little conse¬ 
quence to them, provided the trade is secured. It is a 
safe rule to look with suspicion upon everything that is 
offered unusually cheap. If it is jewelry, it is apt to be 
stolen property; if fur, it is moth-eaten; if lace, it is 
rotten ; if poultry, it is kept too long; if it is coal, it is 
short weight; if it is candy, it is of a deleterious com¬ 
pound. 

AT THE TABLE. 

It is reported of some kind of Squeer’s like boarding- 


88 


OUR CHILD REX. 


school master, when meat was a rarer article of food and 
more costly than now, that he was accustomed to have 
some cheap kind of pudding, as the first course of his 
dinner; also, that he was accustomed to encourage his 
hoys to eating heartily of this first course, by promising 
that those that eat the most of the pudding, should be 
rewarded by having the most meat. In consequence, all 
the boys strove so earnestly for the coveted prize, that 
there was very little room left for the second course, when 
it finally came on. If we could in some such way, induce 
children to eating healthy, and simple food, we should 
benefit them materially. 

A too great variety, is very undesirable at any one 
meal. Have different food each day if convenient, for 
variety is agreeable, and food that is relished, digests better 
and nourishes better, than if disagreeable and eaten with 
grumbling and complaint. The children’s meals should 
be simple, unspiced, and the quantity each eats, should be 
under the limitation of his healthy appetite, and not the 
result of his palate being tickled, by a succession of courses 
and delicacies. Make it a rule, that if a child has no 
appetite for simple food of good quality, that he is sick, 
and should be dieted, or physicked (the former best) and 
not tempted by luxuries and tid-bits. 

Pickles in large quantities, are not desirable, not advisa¬ 
ble with children living on milk, but in small quantities 
they are not deleterious, taken with other food—that is so 
far as the vinegar goes. In many conditions of the system, 
vinegar is almost imperatively demanded, and is a neces¬ 
sary article of diet, in the army and on shipboard, by those 
who do not drink the acid wines, where the elements 
which the system requires are abundantly found. Stim¬ 
ulating sauces, catsups, and condiments, are never desirable. 
They are excusable, and perhaps necessary, for the worn- 


HABITS AT TABLE. 


89 


out stomachs of sensualists and gourmands, but should be 
positively prohibited to all children. 

Especially should care be taken with young children, to 
form their habits of eating. Some children suck their 
food, pressing it with the tongue against the roof of the 
mouth, and finally swallowing it unmasticated in large 
pieces. They should be taught, when first allowed to eat 
solid food, to comminute it finely before swallowing. 
Food thus masticated, allows the gastric juice to attack it on 
a much larger surface, to mix through it, and thus to digest 
it speedily. If it remains too long in the heat of the 
stomach undigested, it sours, produces eructations, and 
pain,disturbing the faculties, so as to interfere with the 
studies by day, or the rest by night, and soon produces 
more or less disease. 

What is called “ table manners,” is not all outside show, 
but are very generally based upon correct physiological 
principles. The laws of decorum, dissuade one from 
rapidity in eating and drinking. Some persons gulp 
down a plate of soup, or a cup of tea, when almost boiling 
hot. They have allowed themselves, to get into this dele¬ 
terious habit, for it is so, independent of this breach of 
decorum. Such habits of taking these liquids so hot, are 
injurious to their health, for the almost scalding fluid, 
produces marked injury to the digestive powers of the 
stomach, besides materially injuring the teeth, with which 
it comes in contact, at a temperature which would be 
found far too high in which to take a bath, or even to 
wash the hands and face—parts of the body more accus¬ 
tomed to such burning applications. Dyspepsias, and even 
cancers of the stomach, are ascribed to this constant 
abuse and over stimulation of this organ. 

I cannot close this chapter without alluding to another 
too frequent custom at the table, which should be avoided. 


90 


OUR CHILDREN. 


It is very generally a habit commenced in youth, 
and continued with many injurious effects, far into life, 
perhaps indeed, even after the injury resulting from it, is 
perceived and acknowledged; for the habits of childhood 
once formed, are very apt to cling to us through life. It 
is the habit of excessive drinking, to which I refer. 

EXCESSIVE DRINKING AT MEALS. 

There is a limitation to tea and coffee drinking, and even to 
milk drinking, but an excessive water drinker has no limita¬ 
tion but his capacity. Besides his one or two cups of tea, or 
coffee and his glass of milk, he tops off with a goblet, or 
two, or three of cold water. This flood of fluid, fills him 
up to a most uncomfortable fullness; it unnecessarily taxes 
the secretory organs to throw it out of the system, disor¬ 
dering the kidneys by this over-work. Furthermore, it so 
dilutes the gastric juice, that the organs of digestion 
become seriously impared, and the result is often a most 
aggravated dyspepsia. This excessive drinking, sometimes 
is caused by eating too much salt, with the meals. The 
overdose of salt is rarely excessive. It is the principle 
material composing the gastric juice, and perhaps can do 
little injury, even in very large quantities, but it is certain¬ 
ly quite unnecessary for the health, and the habit of over 
eating it, should be checked and its use controlled. 

Eating and drinking between meals, is to be avoided as 
much as possible. The stomach requires rest, like every 
other organ, and the perpetual munching of cakes, and 
crackers and candies, and nuts, and fruits, is unques¬ 
tionably very injurious, a tampering with the healthy 
appetite, for nutritious food at regular periods. The 
remarks already made upon the constant nursing of chil. 
dren, is pertinent in this connection. 


CHAPTER Y. 


children’s clothing. 

A CHILD is no sooner bom into the world, than the 
necessity for keeping it warm, originates the enquiry, 
how it shall be clothed. Mothers usually prepare in 
anticipation a basket, containing such clothing as the fash¬ 
ion of the day deems necessary, adorned with such lace, 
ribbons, <fcc., as the station of the family demand, and the 
inevitable pin-ball with the pins, duly pricked into the 
sentence of 

WELCOME LTTTLE STRANGER. 

With this ball, there is an interest to the physician 
attending, and this comes from the hope that there are 
some pins two or three inches long, with which he may 
properly secure the mother’s bandage. 

Such a basket should contain a couple of flannel banda¬ 
ges, from four to six inches in width, and eighteen inches 
in length, and on one end, three tapes, each double and 
about ten inches in length, with which to secure the end 
without requiring any pins. It should also contain, two 
to six squares, a short flannel petticoat, a second, some three 
feet long, and opened in front its entire length; a linen 
cambric shirt, a night gown and a day dress, a pair of 
socks, a powder box and puff ball, a pair of scissors, sharp 
and without points, a roll of soft old linen, a bit of flannel 
for a wash rag, also a minute comb, and brush. 

I have little to say about this clothing, except that if it 
is not summer, the dresses should be made high in the 


92 


OUR CHILDREN. 


neck and with long sleeves. Yanity may make a mother 
desirous of showing her baby’s little fat neck, and mottled 
soft arms, but the risk of inflammation of the lungs, and 
other diseases, is too imminent for me any more to advise 
open dress. 

There is not so much real danger from pins, as there is 
annoyance, and from the uncertainty, or to the cause of the 
sometimes prolonged crying of a child. Is it hungry % 
Idas it a colic % Is it the pricking of a pin ? We proceed 
to eliminate. 

It cannot be that the child is cross, for be it expressly 
understood (young mother, for whom this paragraph is 
particularly intended) that children are never cross, without 
reason or motive. If the child has plenty of good food, no 
illness, no pain, it is pleasant and happy—if sometimes 
sleepy. Crossness is an affliction of the mind, and a 
nursing baby has not yet arrived at such a pitch of intel¬ 
ligence, as to recognize any misfortune that could possibly 
attend it. Recognize this as a continual fact, that what is 
called crossness, is discomfort. 

If the dress is not secured by pins, the possible origin of 
the lamentations is set aside. The only advantage of pins, 
is the rapidity with w T hich they can be adjusted. Dresses 
tied with tapes, are apt to be loose and awry. Far the 
better plan is, to sew them on with long basting stitches, 
and thus combine the essential elements of a neat, rapid, 
and safe manner of dressing. It will appear somewhat 
awkward at first, but is handily done after a little experi¬ 
ence. My own children, had never a pin in their infantile 
garments. 

There remains therefore, a logical necessity, that the 
child is crying from some internal disarrangement, and 
nine times out of ten, a little catnip, anise, or similar car¬ 
minative tea, is all that is required to dislodge some obstruc¬ 
tion, or disperse a gathering flatus. ^ 


BABTS DRESS. 


93 


As the child becomes able to creep about, the necessity 
of shortening its long protecting skirts is imperative, 
while the necessity that the child’s limbs should be kept 
warm ,is as strong as ever. It is like throwing dust against 
the wind, to attempt to go against the blind decrees of 
fashion, yet the Laws of Health demand, that a child’s 
arms, neck and legs, should be kept covered from the cold 
and wind. 

A vigorous child can eat enough food to keep himself 
warm, but every farmer knows that he can keep his cows, 
on half the feed, when protected, and safely housed from 
the winter’s blast, and although the saving of food with 
the farmer is everything, and this economy in nursing 
children is nothing, yet, it is an important matter, if the 
food of the child should be wasted in simply keeping it 
from perishing with cold, rather than its being utilized in 
forming bone, gathering flesh, and creating in it, a stamina 
and a constitution, that shall show its benefits by prolong¬ 
ation of life and vigor, when the four-score years and ten, 
man’s allotted term of earthly duration, shall have been 
attained. 

Flannel is an essential article of dress, at least so far as a 
flannel band or under-shirt is concerned, until after the 
complete teething of the child is gone through with. It is 
perhaps, allowable to remove it from healthy children, 
during such intense, and prolonged, summer heats, as we 
have had in summers past, but if removed temporarily, it 
must be supplimented by increased vigilance on the part 
of the mother, lest some of the sudden changes of temper¬ 
ature, find her child too exposed to its chilling influences. 

The only real objection to flannel low cut waists for 
children, is their liability to the very disagreeable annoy¬ 
ance of prickly heat , which is very frequent among active, 
freely perspiring children. If this is present, it will be 


94 


OUR CHILDREN. 


much mitigated by keeping the skin cool, by frequent 
bathings and by gently wiping the body over with a solu¬ 
tion of ordinary saleratus, (not soda) of the strength of a 
table-spoonful of this salt, in a quart of cold w T ater. After 
the teething is entirely completed, the child may be 
dressed m any manner deemed most appropriate for the 
season, but guided by the general principles which govern 
all dress. 

Dress has two ends in view. The first is that, which is 
alleged to have animated the first pair in the garden, the 
covering of the person from observation. However prob¬ 
lematical this alleged origin of clothing may be, there is no 
question, but it is now, one of the guiding instincts mod¬ 
ifying and fashioning it. Innocence is typified as naked, 
and in conformity with this idea, the innocent little child 
is too apt to be imperfectly clad. Protection against the 
inclemency of the weather, the more possible origin of 
habiliments, seems in constant strife with the former. 
Mothers seem far too much imbued with the ideas of the 
former, than a just perception of the demands of the 
latter. 

The fickleness of the weather in our temperate latitudes, 
the extreme changes of temperature, which not unfre- 
quently occur, in the twenty-four hours of a single day, 
renders it necessary to dress thoughtless, unforeseeing chil¬ 
dren, rather too warmly than the contrary; for while it 
might be perfectly safe for an adult, within reach of 
warmer attire, to be clothed in gauze and linen, it behooves 
a careful parent to dress children in garments made of 
such material as shall allow them, with more impunity to 
exercise with great severity, and then, even wdien hot and 
perspiring, to sit down anywhere upon the cold ground, 
exposed to draughts and windy currents. We know that 
children will do this, and we must dress them accordingly; 


w HY DRESS IN FLANNEL ? 


95 


especially the chest anTl extremities must be kept guarded. 

The effect of a sudden cooling of the heated body, 
which checks the perspiration rapidly, is to arrest the cur¬ 
rent of blood which has been flowing towards the surface, 
and to direct it internally, and this produces those sudden 
congestions of the various internal organs, so commonly 
seen in the changeable seasons of the year. Wetting the 
feet, or a severe drenching from a thunder shower, or fall¬ 
ing into a brook, is rarely productive of material injury to 
the health, when followed by continued exercise; but on 
the contrary, a slight dampening even, when riding in a 
vehicle, or when one sits, as at church or elsewhere, until 
chilled, is almost always followed by disease of more or 
less severity. 

It is against this sudden cooling of the body, that we 
clothe children with woolen, or give them flannel waists 
to guard their vitals. Adults are supposed to know bet¬ 
ter, than to thus allow themselves to be blown upon by 
wind, or wetted by rain, &c., or if wetted, it is supposed 
that they will be wise enough to walk rapidly home, rather 
than to cool, and to catch cold by riding. Still, they do 
not know enough to run home from the heated lecture- 
room, or theatre, on a winter’s night, but almost invaria¬ 
bly get cold, by their lazily riding home after it is over. 

LOW NECKED DRESSES. 

The low-necked dresses of girls, even in summer-time, 
are open to still another objection. They require to be 
made with unusual accuracy, in order to have them keep 
their proper place, for if too loose, they so slip down as to 
keep one shoulder, or the other, perpetually sticking out, 
which is both awkward and unseemly, but it induces a habit 
of twitching which is apt to be persistent. If too tight, 
they injuriously compress the shoulders, and are very apt 


96 


OUR CHILDREN, 


to cause a stoop, which is not only permanently disfiguring, 
hut compresses the lungs, and alters the shape of the chest to 
the manifest detriment of the health. Few children per¬ 
sistently wear such cut dresses, without such like physical 
ill-results. 

Sufficient care is not taken in the fitting of children’s 
dress,and more especially at that period of their life, when 
the pubescent changes take place. The growing bust of 
girls requires accommodation, so that it may have room for 
full development. How often do we see the effects of this 
neglect, on the breast of the young mother, where, owing 
to this want of care, the pressure of the clothes has so 
been allowed to fall upon the nipple, that it has been bur¬ 
ied in the gland, and can scarcely be seized by the child, 
until by various resorts, it is laboriously drawn out to its 
natural position. Undoubtedly, many of the gathered 
breasts of young mothers, are due to the obliteration of 
the milk ducts, a direct result of the pressure of the tight 
waists, and improperly placed seams in the dresses, at this 
developing age. The same injurious result, comes from 
the bones of illy fitting corsets, which often produces lumps 
in the breasts of the mature, and more probably create 
absorption in the less physiologically active organs of the 
immature girl. While speaking of 

CORSETS. 

A subject upon which volumes have been written, I 
might here briefly mention my own ideas respecting them. 
Their great injury lies in their abuse. Properly made, 
and properly worn, they are simply close-fitting, local gar¬ 
ments, warm and not injurious. But in the first place, they 
are very rarely properly fitted, although there is to-day 
great improvement over those of a few years ago, in their 
manufacture and the accuracy of their adjustment, to the 


CORSETS FOR CHILDREN. 


97 


female form. Secondly, they give too great discretionary 
power, to the ignorant young 'wearer, or the foolish, vain, 
regardless older girl. They will tighten them in the aim 
to make their figure slim, and stylish, till they press upon 
organs, to their manifest detriment. 

I shall not attempt to go into an argument for, or against 
them here, but this much is true, that if they may be ju¬ 
diciously worn, under the eye of a careful, sensible, observ¬ 
ing mother, they are never necessary, for health. They 
never advantageously “ keep a girl up,” even if they may 
“ make her dresses set smoothly.” Girls should get health 
and stamina to keep them up, and should put iron inside 
of themselves, not outside, for this purpose. 

But if mothers will put any form of corset on their chil¬ 
dren for “ trigness,” let them be contented with “ Spanish 
waists,” which are more like a Yenus girdle than a corset. 
F ew girls require more than this, as they have neither full 
and pendulous bosoms to keep up, or abdominal fat to 
keep down, and if they have, they should remember that 
it must go somewhere, and there is little gain to looks, if 
great injury to health, by the attempt to forcibly drive it 
here and there. 

The Spanish waist cannot be brought too tightly together 
—say an inch or two larger than a corset-maker’s measure, 
and little injury will be done by it. To say the least, it 
makes no greater pressure than the boned, laced waist of 
the ordinary dress, which is practically a corset. 

HOOPS 

have been a benefit to children. They have diminished 
the weight of skirts upon the hips, have given full play to 
the limbs, they are cool around the hips and back, where 
formerly there was intense heat, and consequent disease, 
and as a whole, their introduction and genera} use has 
been of great benefit. 

5 


98 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Another important portion of dress, should not be passed 
by unnoticed. There is unquestionably, too little attention 
paid to fitting the shoes of children, and the foundation of life¬ 
long trouble, is the result of this neglect. Formerly, shoes 
were very generally “ custom made,” and each foot meas¬ 
ured and fitted. To-day, the best shoes in the market are 
made by the thousand by machinery, hundreds of miles 
away. The retailer but selects a shoe from a dozen or two—■ 
the contents of a box that he has himself bought—and it fits 
more or less well. If your foot is of the general run of 
feet, not higher in the instep, or longer or broader than 
ordinary, you do very well: but if there is anything pecu¬ 
liar, you are unfortunate. 

SHOES AND STOCKINGS 

Your child is absolutely unable to tell, whether or not a 
shoe will fit her, and the seller don’t care, if it is but paid 
for. If it is too long, it presses injuriously on the nails, 
distorts them, presses them into the flesh; if too loose, by 
its play, it galls the feet; if too tight, it creates corns and 
bunions, and when these are once formed, it is very difficult 
to ever entirely banish them. 

Children are very provoking in regard to shoes. If you 
select an unusually nice, and expensive pair of boots for 
your son in a fit of good humor, in twenty-four hours 
afterward, he has slidden down hill with them, and worn 
the entire heel off, of he has gone “ belly-bumpers,” and 
taken the tops of the toes off, or he has trampled out a 
bonfire, or burned them at the stove,—all is, they are gone. 
In a spirit of vexation, you buy a cheap pair of cowhides, 
with pegs and leather strings. This is revenge, and the 
fruits of it will remain in the form of corns, or bunions 
forever, speaking of you, long after you are in the family 
tomb. I have myself similar reminiscences. 

Parents should personally witness the fitting of shoes 


CHILDREN'S STOCKINGS. 


99 


for their children. The modern “high-heels,” so press 
the foot into the toe of the shoe, that there should be suffi¬ 
cient length insured, and plenty of space about the toes, 
to admit of full play, and proper expansion, in walking. 
The tightness requisite to hold them firmly to the foot, 
should come from an easy graduated fit over the ankle. 
If the pressure be too great upon the instep, inflammation 
of the extremities of the small bones of the foot will ensue, 
formative matter will be thrown upon the surface, and the 
result will be a protuberance lasting and disfiguring the 
foot for life. 

The first time that a new shoe is worn, should be only 
for a very short time. A long walk, or a prolonged stand¬ 
ing on the feet, should never be undertaken in new shoes; 
nor should new shoes, or boots, be worn two days in suc¬ 
cession, but rest be given to the feet, by a pair pressing in 
other places, or by the old, and well-fitted, even if shabby. 

Stockings should not be w r orn, if by shrinking, or mend¬ 
ing, or the growing of the foot, they have become too short, 
or tight across the toes. Most of the soft corns are produced 
thus, and a mother should carefully watch this in her 
children, and see that no such persistent injury shall occur, 
for most of these troubles of the feet, date from very early 
youth. 


CHAPTER YI. 


PERSONAL HABITS. 

W ERE I to fill this chapter, with a review of all the 
personal habits of children, and which afterward 
became the fixed manners of the matured adult, I should 
need to epitomize Chesterfield’s letters, condense Dr. 
Todd, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Martineau, and scores of 
other writers, who have written upon the manners and 
morals of the age. 

But my aim is narrowed down to those which affect the 
physical condition of the individual, and of these, many 
will suggest themselves to the reader, which I shall pass 
by unnoticed, such as sitting improperly, persistent snuffling, 
winking of the eye, distortions at regular intervals, biting 
of the nails, picking the flesh, &c. Some of these proceed 
from nervous disorders, some result in injuries to health, 
but as they are very apparent to the casual observer, and 
as they are more likely to be corrected from their disagreea¬ 
ble appearance, I shall make no further allusion to them. 

Personal Cleanliness, is but imperfectly regarded, 
even among the richest and best of families. Yery young 
children, while in the care of others, are very apt to be 
washed carefully and frequently enough, and even after 
that period has passed, the hands and face are not apt to be 
neglected, but their persons are, very commonly, if I 
should say foul—the word would scarcely be too strong. 

In the large cities, where bath-tubs are upon every floor, 
the neglect is not very great, but in less favored places, 
the use of a sponge and wash-bowl is less of a luxury, and 
has some drawbacks from being considered a perfect 


SECRETIONS OF THE SKIN. 


101 


pleasure, and it occupies time, is inconvenient—and the 
result is a personal neglect, evident to the olfactories of 
strangers. 

With some families, the secretions of the skin are rank 
and offensive, and too great care cannot be taken to so 
thoroughly and frequently cleanse the person, as to utterly 
banish any evidence of it, from being apparent to the 
senses. Especially is constant care required by those, who 
have offensive secretions from the feet. They must be 
carefully washed in cold water, night and morning, their 
stockings changed daily. Even this is sometimes quite 
ineffectual, and recourse must be had to some remedy. 

The following lotion is one that I have frequently pre¬ 
scribed with great benefit. I gave it first to a seamstress 
of such superiority, that we did not wish to part with her, 
but it seemed necessary, as no one could sit in the room 
with her, and as she walked through the house, a train of 
scent was left behind. A few applications entirely arrest¬ 
ed it, but at intervals for the following year, she was com¬ 
pelled to make use of it. 

R Oxyd. Rub. Plumbi, grs. XV. 

Solutio Plumbi Subacetatis, oz. I. Mix. 

Rubbing slowly in a mortar. 

After carefully washing and drying the feet, moisten 
between the toes and wherever the secretion takes place— 
once or twice a week is often enongh for the application. 

Flannel shirts should not be worn longer than a week, 
unless in very cold weather when the secretions are in¬ 
terrupted, the time may be doubled. Especially it should 
be remembered, that they are not to be kept on during 
the night, but spread out, so as to be thoroughly aired by 
morning. 

Indeed, the clothing and covering of children at night, 
deserves more care than is generally given to it. Children 


102 


OUR CHILDREN. 


are very apt to be sent to bed, immediately after eating 
more or less hearty supper, and the food is very apt to 
produce some disagreeable sensations, which they manifest 
in sleep, by movements very much akin to those when 
awake—they kick round extensively, and so, naturally 
uncover themselves. 

Yery often indeed, they have too many coverings over 
them, and the transition from too many, to none at all, is 
too much for comfort or health. Their personal dress 
ought therefore to be so made, that they cannot be exposed, 
and both girls and boys when small, should have night 
garments like jacket and drawers, which will constantly 
cover them. 

A matter very much neglected is the secretion from the 
kidneys, It is utterly useless, and really cruel to rouse 
children from their slumbers, and flog them quite severely, 
as I have known it done, for wetting the bed in their sleep. 
The fault is not the child’s but the parents. For some 
unknown reason, whether the recumbent position, or the 
warmth of the bed, or the general relaxation af the system 
during sleep, I cannot say, but sure it is that the secretions 
of the kidneys are redoubled in amount, during the early 
hours of slumbering. It is nature that fills the bladder. 

If the poor tired child, is so sleepy, as not to be aroused 
by this pressure; if his uneasy feelings get mixed up with 
his dreams of pleasure, and in the midst of an imaginary 
ramble in the nut-groves, or in a game of ball, he is com¬ 
pelled to stop for a call of nature, and awakening he finds 
it was not all a dream—who is to blame, but the parent, 
who fills his little stomach with bread and milk, or tea and 
water, and stimulates the excretory organs, by apples or 
similar provoking food ? I protest against scolding and 
punishing children, as for a crime or a fault, w T hen any 
blame, if any, rests with the parent. 


PERSONAL HABITS. 


103 


Cleanliness of tiie Teeth, is a most important matter. 
The injury to teeth by the food, by the stomach secretions 
are mainly effected in the long period of sleep. The best 
thing before going to bed, with washing the feet and 
hands, and saying the prayers—the purification of the soul 
—should be brushing the teeth, and rinsing the mouth. 
This need not be a prolonged matter, but a hasty, yet 
general cleansing away of all debris of the day’s food. 
The morning lavations, should include a very special 
brushing of the teeth, with soap or powder. 

Cutting the toe nails, demands an especial notice. In 
th3 good old times of past days, this was the finale of a 
Saturday night’s cleansing, but great injury was frequently 
caused, by the improper method used in training them. 
As they are rarely seen, ornament is not to be thought of. 
The finger nails should be cut so as to make a curved 
extremity, exactly opposed to the curved shape of the root, 
where it is inserted into the finger, but the toe nail, if cut 
in this manner, in consequence of the pressure of the shoe, 
will commence to be sore along the edge ; then the irrita¬ 
ted flesh will swell, and ride over the nail, and obscure it 
from sight or access. Soon, a very painful condition 
ensues, and then we have what is called an “ in-growing 
nail.” The nail continues to grow as it always did, but 
by constant digging-down, and trying to cut away the 
sharp edge that has been improperly made by the previous 
cuttings, we keep the sharp point ever pressing upon ever 
irritated flesh, and this, with the use of the foot and the 
pressure of the shoe, makes a really distressing affair. 

Now, if the toenail had been squarely cut across, no 
such trouble would have ever occurred, and now, if not 
touched for a few weeks, it will grow out, and will eventu¬ 
ally cure itself. The operation of cutting it out is 
horribly painful, and chloroform will not prevent a great 


104: 


OUR CHILDREN. 


deal of after suffering, during the weeks necessary to lieal 
it. Remember then the preventive, to cut the nail square 
across , and not to round the corners with an eye for 
symmetry. 

IMPORTANCE OF CERTAIN HABITS. 

The habit of paying attention to all the functions of the 
bodily economy, cannot be omitted with due regard to 
health. Children should be early taught the importance 
of daily visiting the water-closet , and if from any inability, 
the evacuations are mot regular, and sufficiently copious, 
that they should draw their parents attention to the fact, 
and so by slight change in diet, or a simple laxative, that 
this source of so many ills may be rectified in season. 

Thus will headaches, haemorrhoids, leucorrhseas, to say 
nothing of more serious congestions, and diseases be warded 
off. The importance of a regular hour for this purpose, is 
apparent to most. This habit of body finally becomes im¬ 
perative, and so strong is it, that not even urgent business, 
or the engrossing nature of any occupation, can prevent its 
being brought to mind. 

The habits during sleep are also important, and should 
be formed under the direction of the ever watchful mother. 
She should see that the child is in a proper posture, during 
the many hours spent in bed. The position should be 
such, as to give the greatest rest to the muscles, so that 
none of them should be kept upon the stretch, for if so, 
the child awakes in the morning but imperfectly rested. 
The child should lie on either side, with its limbs partially 
flexed—not upon its back, as this almost always interferes 
with the digestion, produces niglit-mare and discomfort. 
In this position, too, the muscles being thoroughly relaxed, 
the mouth falls open, and consequent snoring, and—as al¬ 
leged by some writers, with however, I think little foun¬ 
dation in fact—consequent disastrous effects, in which the 
lungs are more especially indicated. 


CHILDREN'S BEDS. 


105 


Children should not be allowed to form a habit of sleep¬ 
ing with the head raised high, with bolster and pillows. 
All that is required, is to have the head elevated by a sin¬ 
gle pillow, so as to be even with the shoulders. If the 
head is raised higher, the heart is given more work to do, 
to pump the blood to this additional height, and the conse¬ 
quence is, that it is thus deprived of the little relief that it 
is capable of receiving, for should this organ for one short 
minute cease its functions, death would be the necessary 
result. 

There is an enervating heat about feathers, that make 
them very undesirable for children, unless it be in very 
exposed climates, and during the winter season only. The 
very softness is not desirable, while the very excess of heat, 
conduces to frame of mind not desirable, engenders and 
ferments lascivious thoughts in the adolescent, and is other¬ 
wise very objectionable. A hair mattrass even with too warm 
clothing, has no such bodily effect, as the downy bed, that 
is so much better in poetry, than real life. If the rapidity, 
with which a hair mattrass radiates the heat from the body 
is objectionable in a cold winter’s room, this may be entirely 
obviated, by spreading a blanket under the lower sheet. 
A sponge bed is a most excellent one, being warmer than 
hair, and cooler than feathers, and as soft as may be desired. 

If possible, children should sleep alone, in the same room 
if desirable, but in a bed separate from any one else. There 
is a popular predjudice against a young person sleeping 
with an old one; the idea being that the elder abstracts 
somewhat of the vigor and vitality of the young. If there 
is any such power of absorption, it is not scientifically reg- 
ognized, but there other objections which are sufficient 
without this, to make it undesirable. 

But for the young to sleep together, those objections are 
of a weightier, and moral character. Evil communications 
5 * 


106 


OUR CHILDREN. 


which proverbially are corrupt, have here their fitting op¬ 
portunities. Children are fond of sleeping in one another’s 
company, and spending the night together, even when 
they live the next door to one another. It is a habit 
fraught with evil, and one “ knowing one ” will soon cor¬ 
rupt an entire community. 

Perhaps in no better connection than this, can I add a 
disagreeable, but neccessary word, which I trust parents 
will heed, ponder over, and that it may stimulate them to 
watch for any evidence of its presence in their children, 
that it may be utterly corrected ere too late. The neces¬ 
sary subject which must be hinted upon, in a work of this 
nature, is that of 

SECRET VICE. 

There is a “ free-masonry ” about sin, that is very re¬ 
markable. “ Birds of a feather flock together,” says the 
old adage, but this “feather” is not virtue, but vice. 
Whether it is, that sin is allied to unhappiness, and the 
above adage is but another expression of the phrase, that 
“ misery likes company,” I cannot say, but sure it is, there 
is no fraternity like that, where the tie that binds the parties 
is an unholy one. 

The secret vice which saps the manners, mind, and mor¬ 
als of so many of our youth, is not in truth a secret one, 
in the full sense of the expression. It is not a habit self- 
induced, the result of a necessity of nature, as many would 
have us believe, and to which one is led by a power supe¬ 
rior to his judgment and his reason, viz: an uncontrollable 
natural want, whereby one is compelled to get rid of certain 
irritating secretions, appertaining to the nature of man. 

There is no truth in this statement. This sin is no more 
a necessity for a youth, than chewing tobacco is a necessity, 
or drinking spirits, or gambling, or any other similarly 
acquired vice. 


IMPORTANT CONTEMPLATION. 


107 


The imagination of the boy, is seduced by the excitement 
of doing something wrong; by the mystery attached to the 
secrecy of the matter; by the idea of being engaged in 
something manly, something which marks an era between 
the past boyhood, and a coming manhood. It is an event 
to be chronicled in his memory with another great event 
of youthful life, the putting on the first breeches. 

By such influences as these, the young boy, long before 
the era of adolescence, is led to the practice of a secret 
enormity, simply from the attractiveness of doing something 
wrong, something that he would not have his parents, or 
his Sunday-school teacher, or his big brother know anything 
about. 

There is a natural prurience in the human mind, that 
loves to contemplate wickedness, and demons, and enormi¬ 
ties. This is one of them. The habit once formed, it is 
kept on in after life, as a sensuality—and then comes its 
dangers and physical disabilities. 

As suggested already, the animus is not from within. 
When the vice is commenced, nature is yet tranquil, no 
internal fires are raging, no imaginations stir the brain, no 
stimulus comes from the well-turned ankle, or the graceful 
form of one of the opposite gender. The youth is simply 
led into this wrong-doing, as he would be seduced into 
robbing a watermelon patch, or a peach orchard. Even 
these latter boyish feats, have not the stimulus of the 
appetite as a temptation, for the youth, overfed with these 
fruits at home, and with ample pocket-money wherewith 
to buy to his heart’s content, and his stomach’s repletion, 
is as ready for the “ lark,” as the hungriest and poorest lad 
among them all. 

And from this statement, comes the moral for the bene¬ 
fit of parents and guardians of youth—beware of idleness 
in your children, and bad company for them. Fill your 


108 


OUR CHILDREN. 


children’s mind with proper thoughts, so full that there 
shall be no room for bad ones to get in. Be a companion 
for your children, and thus efficiently prevent them from 
obtaining such associates as will corrupt their young minds, 
and sow the seeds of injuries, that shall last them through 
life. As it is impossible for them to become old, you must 
come down to their age and tastes, and by accustoming 
them to join you in your diversions, you will insensibly 
lead them into the loftier spheres of life, and higher plains 
of enjoyment. 

The evil effects of secret vice, or onanism, are two-fold, 
—viz., moral and physical. Self-pollution degrades the 
moral nature to a degree, that is scarcely explainable by 
any mental or physiological analysis. The youth in the 
frequent habit of self-abuse loses his self-respect. He can¬ 
not look you in the face; if by chance his eye actually 
catches your retiring look, his gaze falters, his eye drops 
to the ground, his face suffuses, and he has the appearance 
of one caught in some unworthy act, or serious crime. He 
seems to think that the person looking at him is aware of 
his unworthiness. This look has not the sheepishness 
which some boys show in the presence of young girls, but 
a look that has in it a self-reproach, quite foreign from the 
shame-facedness above alluded to. 

Such a boy is easily corrupted to any wrong deed. As 
in the East, the Eunuchs seem to be ever ready, as fit per¬ 
sons, to perform any act of cruelty or oppression, from a 
seeming unnatural absence of all moral principle, the victim 
of self abuse is also apparently open to any project of 
wrong-doing, and is a fitting instrument in the hands of 
the plotter and the designer. 

Physically, the Onanist is practically emasculated. He 
is weak in body, flabby in muscle, pallid in countenance, 
nervous, irritable, with hypochondria, and tendency to 
insanity and folly. 


SECRET ENERVATING HABITS. 


109 


It is a question, I am aware, whether masturbation is a 
cause or a consequence of insanity, some contending that 
the frightful extent to which it is carried on, can only pro¬ 
ceed from an unnatural desire of the brain, stimulating the 
baser passions; others consider that this utterly uncontroll¬ 
able frenzy, this unnatural appetite which will not be 
appeased, which defies bars and bolts, the rigors of a bread 
and water diet, the constraint of fetters and the straight 
jacket, the threats of punishment and its actual severe 
physical castigation, that such indulgence of itself will, of 
necessity, destroy the throne of reason, from the overthrow 
of all nervous power. 

One objection to the idea of its originating in severe 
disease of the nervous centres, is the fact that most of these 
cases marked by such exaggeration, are among males, 
although the disease is actually prevalent among females. 
In justice to the sex, it must be confessed, that notwith¬ 
standing the aspersions of many—and these are generally 
men of little opportunity for observation, and with a ten¬ 
dency to degrade every thing that is holy—the instances 
of this vice in females are comparatively very rare, and 
among these few exceptions, it is especially induced, by a 
sensuality unusual in the sex. This opinion is still found 
thus urged in a very recent work, “ Conjugal Sins,” and 
the article on this important subject, has met with great 
acceptance. Still, there is far too much among boarding- 
school misses, the indolent, and the upper strata of society. 

This is not the place to enlarge upon the symptoms, 
character, or treatment of the various forms of nervous 
disease, debilities, and general disturbance caused by the 
persistent indulgence to this vice. Obsta Prmcijpiis , 
stop the beginnings, is all that can here be urged. The 
daily mail brings me numerous appeals for relief, from all 
parts of our country. If parents did but keep a more 


110 


OUR CHILDREN. 


watchful eye, over the hidden actions of their children, 
this would not be continued into advanced life, or. until by 
their prolonged continuance they have actually affected 
the health of body or mind. More than this, the habit 
may easily be prevented when half formed, when the mind is 
vigorous, the will intact, and the conscience easily aroused. 

The parent on making this unwelcome discovery, and 
more especially on finding the health undermined, should 
make immediate application to a suitable medical man, 
one familiar with such complaints and their results, and 
immediately begin the work of reform. 

It is almost impossible, to give any curative advice for 
diseases so various, and such various grades of intensity. I 
can but give some approximative advice. When the habit 
cannot be broken up by force of will, we must endeavor to 
mitigate the disease, and thus restrain the created necessity 
till vigor be restored. The most recent remedy for this 
really awful complaint, is the Bromide of Potash, taken in 
ten grain doses two or three times a day. It acts mainly 
by allaying the nervous irritability, but must be taken 
carefully, if possible, with competent medical superinten¬ 
dence. With this must be given some ferruginous prepar¬ 
ations, to increase the general vigor, and to restore any 
wasted energy. 

A new agent has been found in chloral—fifteen grains 
of which at bed time, will have a tendency to restrain 
excitement and the unnatural flow, which often involuntar¬ 
ily escapes in those habituated to this habit, even after the 
actual performance has been arrested. In such cases, 
severe exercise is especially beneficial, such as will produce 
physical fatigue to overcome, and thus neutralize the 
nervous disability, such as a prolonged fishing excursion 
in a regular cod fisherman to the Banks of Newfoundland, 
or out stock raising in Colorado, which means a constant 


RELIEF A TTAIN ABLE. 


Ill 


life in the saddle, amid stimulating air, new and exciting 
scenes and constant occupation. 

Improvement is very slow, but an entire arrest of the 
sin and perseverance in the path laid out, only will event¬ 
uate in a final perfect cure. 


CHAPTER YII. 


THE GRAND CHANGING PERIODS OF LIFE. 

% 

I 1ST former times, deduced from some of the doctrines 
of a mathematical nature, from the old philosopher 
Pythagoras, there was a general belief in climacteric divi¬ 
sions, or periods in the life of the race, when great changes 
took place in the nature and constitution. The word “ cli¬ 
macteric ” means stages, and it was considered that the 
individual nature took a step forward at these periods. 

In accordance with this belief, the magical number of 
seven and its various multiples, were esteemed climacteric 
periods, while such importance was given to the age of 
sixty-three, that it was generally called the “ grand climac¬ 
teric.” 

At the present day, the faith in the number seven is 
well-nigh gone, and even the wondrous powers of an alleged 
“ seventh son, of a seventh son,” is vanished from public 
credulity. Still, there are periods in life when great 
changes take place in the human system, and these still 
retain the old title. The first of these may be considered 
that of teething, the second, that of puberty, the third, that 
of the cessation of the menses, and with it, the final depar¬ 
ture of the powers of generation in either sex. 

It is the second period, that of puberty, that at present 
demands our attention. The time of this climacteric period 
is marked by no mathematical numbering of years; it varies 
in different climates, in different races, and even in indi¬ 
viduals of the same stock and family, for the children of 


BEAUTY OF YOUTH. 


113 


the same parents differ very widely in their ages, at the 
date of this event. 

Puberty is to be recognized in two respects, the physical, 
and the moral. The being is changed. With the coming 
beard and roughened voice, come manly aspirations, and 
characteristics. With the rounded frame, and maiden 
blushes, come womanly tenderness, and imaginings of future 
happiness. The boy, ambitious to be “ manly,” seeks for 
every evidence which would characterize it, and the pos¬ 
session of which, he thinks would deceive the world as to 
his age. lie affects slang in his language, willingly makes 
himself half dead, again and again, till he can smoke with 
impunity;—for isn’t it “ manly ?” He talks learnedly of 
wines, and their bouquet, and not unfrequently drinks too 
deeply—partially from ignorance, and more frequently 
because it is “ manly.” This is the period when he fear¬ 
lessly will mount any unbroken or vicious horse, and gen¬ 
erally shrinks from no rash or foolish risk—for isn’t a 
disregard of danger “ manly ?” 

Now is the time, when a father’s example, and a 
mother’s watchfulness are to be added to the previous 
years example and teachings, as to what are the true attri¬ 
butes of manliness. 

How delightful is this season of a young man’s life to 
an interested observer. The ingenous strivings after the 
right, the contempt of meanness, and his earnestly express¬ 
ed opinions—how different from the politic reticence of 
after years ? 

Above all things, a parent should strive to teach his 
child an utter contempt for all that is small, and every¬ 
thing mean. Wickedness and vice are preached against 
in the pulpit, and punished in the courts and prisons. 
Your son runs little danger from these—but how many 
are mean and contemptible, constantly doing some little, 


114 


OUR CHILDREN. 


petty act which would break the heart of a proud parent 
to hear. I would far rather have a son of mine do some¬ 
thing actually wrong, positively vicious, than to have him 
possess one of these pitiful dispositions, which will permit 
him to do some despicable little, nasty meanness, which 
excites the disgust of every one. A wrong action may be 
repented of, and is pretty surely to get its due punishment: 
but to one that can do a mean action, no shame will ever 
come. He is far too callous for self-reproach, and no 
blush can tinge his cheek; he can hold up his head, and 
boast that he has never done anything criminal. I have 
Some pity for the former, but only contempt and loathing 
for the latter. 

Perhaps this style of argument will recall the reply of 
the Dauphin of France, when told of the sufferings of the 
poor of Paris, that they had no bread to eat; he said in 
rejoinder “ Why don’t they eat cake ?” 

The truth is, that a boy taught to avoid meanness, will 
necessarily shrink from a wrong, which is very apt to have 
meanness at the bottom, except those that spring from the 
impulsive workings of a high chivalric temper. He may 
swear, steal, lie and “sow all manner of wild oats,” and yet 
repentant and purified, he may in after years become a true 
man, and an estimable, Christian gentleman and patriot— 
but the seeds of shabby, despicable meanness, can no more 
be eradicated from the nature of one who has once nour¬ 
ished them, than Canada thistles can be rooted out of a 
miserable, Hew England scrub-oak farm. 

MARKED PERIODS IN THE FEMALE SEX. 

But it is in the opposite sex, that the period of change is 
most marked in both its physical and mental developments. 
The most obvious of all the changes is in the shape and 
contour of the form, and this should be recognized in the 


THE FORMATIVE ERA. 


115 


dress, else irreparable injuries may be veiy easily and un¬ 
consciously produced. Nature makes a most remarkable 
alteration in the shape of the girl in many particulars. 

Up to this time the growth has been in height mainly, 
but very suddenly, the child seems to be getting fatter. 
The bosoms which have been till now, undeveloped, grad¬ 
ually increase, and in from six to twelve months time, 
have assumed the fullness, hardness, and symmetry, which 
is so attractive and beautiful. The thoughtful mother will 
have noticed the growth, and will so adapt the dress that 
there may be perfect ease, and abundant room for the 
expansion of the gland, and especially she will see, that no 
bones in the corset, or $ress, shall press injuriously upon 
them. 

Sometimes without the child’s perception of any uneasi¬ 
ness, the pressure has been such as to sink the nipple into 
the breast, or a bone will so gradually press upon some 
portion of the organ, as to make a deep depression, into 
which it is imbedded. The result is to cause slight in¬ 
flammatory action in the incipient milk ducts, diminishing 
their calibre, and sometimes entirely obliterating them. 
The ill results are not noticeable perhaps, until in after 
years these obstructions interfere with lactation, and are the 
causes of broken breasts, and the whole train of evil con¬ 
sequences following on from this disastrous trouble. 

The expansion of the pelvis is not entirely due to the 
disposition of the muscle, but as a radical alteration in the 
shape of the pelvic bones in order to accommodate them to 
the responsible duties intended to devolve-upon them. 

Seeing these changes going on in the physical nature— 
equally observable too in the moral, if carefully attended to 
—it is the duty of the mother, to instruct her daughter in 
regard to the coming-on of menstruation. She should be 
taught gradually to recognize her own nature, its intents 


116 


OUR CHILDREN. 


and purposes, and especially in regard to her personal 
habits. I have known most unfortunate results, from the 
sudden appearance of the “ regies” in children who had 
not had any premonition respecting it. Sometimes their 
terror at observing a sudden flow of blood has been ex¬ 
treme, and the results on the nervous system were very 
unfortunate. 

Sometimes thinking that some accident had occurred, 
they have done their constitutions great injury, not only 
by the shock to the system through the mental impressions, 
but from the unwise efforts ignorantly made, to check the 
flow by applications of ice, cold water, etc. At other times, 
instead of the rest and quietude, which should attend the 
ushering in of so important a function, the thoughtless 
child has indulged in a prolonged, fatiguing exercise, or 
even taken a seaside bath, winch, suddenly checking an 
imperfectly established function, has produced the begin¬ 
ning of neuralgias, and local injuries, that have continued 
to harass her throughout life. 

The habits and fashions of the times, will dictate in this, 
as in everything else, the especial mode used for protection, 
but be this as it may be, the judgment of the parent should 
be present to dictate as to individual particulars, that com¬ 
fort and health be not interfered with. Too much restraint, 
and too great thickness of texture, should be avoided. A 
great part of women’s especial troubles, have owed their 
origin and causation, to the local over-heating of the body 
in the pelvic regions. This was especially observable as 
the result of the multitudinous skirts, and the immense “bus¬ 
tles ” of past fashion, and some approach to it is now threaten¬ 
ing in the tournure and Grecian bends of the present indecent 
dress of the fashionable world. True, the wealthy secure 
for the material to increase the desired amplitude, cool and 
light hair-cloths, and large-meshed stuffs, but economy 


NATURAL CURIOSITY DIRECTED. 


117 


sometimes causes strange make-shifts to be substituted, that 
may attain an approximative effect at a small pecuniary 
cost, but at a great expense of comfort and health. 

There is a great deal of false delicacy evinced by many 
parents, in their relations with their children, and they 
neglect to give them the information which they must get 
sooner or later, and which very often, they learn incorrectly 
from their associates, or by some experience being forced 
upon them in an unexpected manner, and in such a way, 
as to he productive of great injury to them, perhaps both 
physically and morally. 

In a previous chapter, I have referred to some of the 
injurious results of this reprehensible reticence of parents, 
under the head of Secret Yice. Parents should find an 
appropriate season for confidential discourse with their 
children, to correct such false impressions as they may have 
obtained of life, and its beginning, as well as its ending. 

As in the material world, there is nothing actually wrong 
or bad—there is no such thing as dirt, that which we so 
consider, being but “matter out of place”—so in the moral 
and intellectual world there is nothing that exists, which 
may not be properly thought of, and talked of, at a suitable 
time and place. 

The relationship of the sexes should be explained with 
such particularity, as shall be sufficient to put youth on 
their guard against any wrong-doing, and to satisfy the 
curiosity natural to the enquiring mind of the young. The 
physical change in the child is self-recognized, and with this 
change, has come new thoughts and sensations. There is 
an innate perception of the difference, one never before 
noted. It is felt, but not understood ; perhaps it cannot 
be fully explained, but it can be broached, and partially 
developed. 

At the present age, “ ignorance is not bliss,” nor does it 


118 


our children: 


conduce to simplicity in deportment, nor modesty in reality. 
“ Knowledge is power,” and “ to be forewarned is to be 
forearmed.” These trite sayings need to be considered in 
this connection, and may suggest ideas to parents, which 
are not easily expressed, but which it is exceedingly im¬ 
portant should be fully recognized. Add to the natural 
delicacy of the girl, the experienced teachings of the mother, 
and you have done much for both her moral and physical 
welfare. 

The first menstruation in the American girl, occurs at 
a somewhat earlier age, than in the girl of Northern Europe. 
With us, it happens from the twelfth to the fourteenth year 
of her age; still, if retarded beyond this period, unless 
there be some failure in the general strength and health, 
there need be no cause for uneasiness ; nor is it to be ex¬ 
pected, that from its outset it be continued with perfect 
regularity. Not unfrequently, several months elapse after¬ 
ward, before the second period appears, indeed, a year may 
pass away before the function becomes regular and method¬ 
ical. The child should be taught the necessity of great 
personal attention at these periods, that she should note 
the slightest deviation from the ordinary habitude, and 
mention it to her mother, or guardian, who in her turn, 
should not fail to refer to the family physician any notice¬ 
able peculiarities, that they may be obviated before any 
serious constitutional development has been effected. 

The imprudences and exposures of the young not un¬ 
frequently result in a sudden stoppage of the menstrual 
flow. This is an occurrence of the greatest importance. 
The sudden arrest of any discharge, such as the drying up 
of an old ulcer, is always an event of importance, and very 
liable to be followed—if not caused—by some serious 
impending disease. So too, the sudden stop of a menstrual 
flow, from any cause, is very apt to be exceedingly danger- 


RESULTS OF IGNORANCE. 


119 


ous. Sometimes it is the result of an incubating, eruptive 
disease, such as the measles or scarlet fever ; but even if, 
known to be coincident with a great exposure, to wet feet, or 
the like, still the fact of its existing is a reason for solicitude. 

In the simplest cases, it is accompanied almost invaria¬ 
bly, by persistent headache, and general discomfort for 
the whole of the succeeding month, very likely too, 
with coincident pain in the back, leucorrhoea and general 
malaise . In more severe cases, there is great immediate 
fever, a rush of blood to the head, or some internal organ, 
with great pain in the head. In other cases there may be 
bleeding from the nose. In more severe cases there is 
congestion of the brain with delirium, fever &c., some¬ 
times resulting in persistant coma. In still other cases, the 
blood goes to the lungs, and congestion is evidenced by the 
rupture of vessels, with more or less pulmonary hemorrhage. 

In^all such cases, the first aim is to restore the normal 
functions. By warm drinks, hot mustard applications to 
the feet and extremities, something may be done before 
the necessary medical attendance can be obtained. It would 
be useless even to shadow out any line of treatment for 
cases like these, inasmuch as they are diseases requiring 
one entirely conversant with all female complaints, to 
fully recognize, to say nothing of understanding the very 
varied treatment called for by these protean diseases. 

One especially difficult and important point, is the 
diagnosis of the trouble—to make the differential diagno¬ 
sis between temporary mania and hysteria. The anxious 
sympathies of parents and friends, renders this still more 
difficult, and the more so, if the physician has not pre¬ 
viously known the patient and family. 

One essential is of the greatest importance in all such 
cases, absolute isolation of the sufferer, and perfect quiet. 
All friends should be absolutely denied access, and but a 


120 


OUR CHILDREN. 


single—or at the most two persons, should he in the room 
at the same time. If there be any conversation at all in 
the room, it should he cheerful, and in a sufficiently 
loud tone of voice, that it may be easily heard. There is 
nothing so detrimental in any sick-room, and especially 
where there is much nervous excitation, as whispering. 
If the patient is delirious, she always imagines that some 
plotting is going on against her welfare; if hysterical and 
nervous, that her condition is one of great danger which 
the friends are attempting to keep from her. If actually 
asleep, the unusual sibilance of a whisper, will much sooner 
awake a sick person, than the ordinary low tone of a con¬ 
versation. 

HYSTERIA. 

Is a very common female trouble, one productive of 
great annoyance and anxiety. It is a complaint intimate¬ 
ly allied to the sexual organs of females, and is rarely if 
ever seen without some local disease being present. It is 
the result of nervous exhaustion, which is sometimes de¬ 
pendant upon great physical debility, but connected with 
it, is invariably a local disease of the sexual organs proper. 

Any repetition of such nervous crises, should not be 
allowed to go disregarded, but the immediate attention of a 
skilled physician should be directed to alleviating it. It 
may be requisite to make some topical treatment, but 
usually a thorough and prolonged course of tonics will 
suffice to allay it, although rarely to entirely remove local 
disease, when the source of the nervous inability. 

Here is where a false delicacy is allowed too often, to 
stand in the way of a restoration to health, and perhaps 
even to the prolongation of life. The exhausting character 
of such attacks as these, added to the local disease, the 
excessive menstruation, and the accompanying leucorrhaeas 
so debilitate the system, as to render it an easy victim to 


DANGERS FROM PROLONGED DEBILITY. 121 


any hereditary consumption, tliat may he lying dormant 
in the system. No persons with any latent cachexia, can 
with impunity allow themselves to be wasted by any 
malady, far less by one that exhausts the nervous energies, 
as well as the mere physical forces. 

The prolonged depravation of the system by continued 


LEUCOREIICEA, 


renders a girl illy able to withstand the attacks of even 
a slight malady, and quickly succumbs to an amount of 
disease, which is trivial to another in more vigorous 
strength. 

One of the most potent remedies that I have found for 
this weakness, both to arrest its flow, to recuperate the 
wasted energies, and to restore the nervous forces is the 
following. I am compelled to put it in a dead language, 
as the greatest care is necessary in its preparation, as mis¬ 
takes sometime occur, from inadvertently enquiring for a 
very different medicine, with a quite similar name. That 
prescribed, is a large, chrystalline salt of a lemon yellow 
co l or —while the one sometimes wrongly enquired for, is a 
dark blue chrystal. 


IV drachms. 
11-2 ounces. 

1-2 ounce. Mix. 


Potassii Ferrocyanureti 
01. Cinnamoni 
Syrup Zinzeberis 


R 


Thirty drops three times a-day. To be drank in a little 
water before eating. 

The sudden arrest of the courses will sometimes produce 
local inflammatory congestions of the womb, the ovaries and 
very generally, the inflamation will continue to spread, 
until the w T hole peritoneal lining of the abdomen and bow¬ 
els, becomes involved in the general disturbance. 

This is a matter of the utmost seriousness, not only on 
account of the severity of the local pain, but from the im¬ 
minent danger to life, -which is thereby involved. 


6 


122 


OUR CHILDREN. 


It would be worse than useless, to give the treatment 
for this complication, as no time should be lost in obtaining 
the most skillful advice possible. There is no time to be 
lost, for every hour’s delay materially advances this disease, 
till inflammation becomes disorganization. Absolute rest 
will be a necessity, but applications of water, laudanum, 
turpentine, stupes, or poultices may be applied before the 
desired medical aid may be summoned. 

One point to be borne in mind, in this relation, viz; the 
importance of keeping in remembrance, the fact, that the 
child has had inflammation of any of the organs. In after 
days, in connection with a desire to have children, the 
question may arise, why it is that the apparently healthy 
woman is sterile. It will materially simplify the case, if it 
be well understood, that at any early period in her woman’s 
life, she had a serious attack of inflamation of the uterine 
organs. 

It may be well here to suggest, that the parents of chil¬ 
dren should not trust to the uncertainties of memory, but 
make a written record of all diseases, with which the chiL 
dren of a family may be affected. Especially in a large 
family, it is desirable to know that Sarah and Delia had 
scarlet fever, but that Julia being away, was not exposed, 
and escaped. If at some future period this disease should 
be rife, this information may be of the utmost importance. 
It would seem as if such a matter must necessarily be re¬ 
membered, but I know that such, and even more important 
facts, in relation to the sickness of a family are very soon 
forgotten. Even the date of the birth of a child, or the 
death of the mother of a family—as important a person as 
she is—is often forgotten. 

Indeed, the importance of a keeping a record of the phy¬ 
sical condition of a family, is of the greatest importance. 


FAMILY DISEASES CATALOGUED. 


123 


Even in a pecuniary view, the value of such information is 
very great. If a person desires a life-insurance—and now¬ 
adays almost every body who has any one dependent upon 
him, or wishes to borrow money on his individual security, 
or to take an endowment policy, for his own benefit, finds 
insurance desirable—he then finds it very important to 
know the character of his family. 

Perhaps his mother died of consumption; was it a disease 
in the family, or only an accidental case ? The record will 
tell this. Indeed, it is astonishing how many men there 
are of high intelligence, who do not know how old they 
are ; of what diseases their parents died ; who confound a 
serious, hereditary disease, with an accidental one, having no 
trait which can be transmissable. 

THE IMPENDING MORAL CHANGE. 

But the extraordinary change which puberty brings to 
the physical nature, would be but imperfectly considered, 
if no reference was made to the change in the mental and 
moral perceptions. The child, at almost a bound, jumps 
into adult life. This is markedly so in this country, and 
in many respects, it is a matter of regret. 

From childish thoughts and occupations, the stride to 
the duties of mature life is immense. Boys of eighteen 
and twenty, who are in round jackets, and broad, white 
collars in England, and Europe generally, are here deeply 
immersed in business, and often their own masters; and 
girls that there, are in the shadow of a cloister, employed 
in finishing their education, are here the belles of society, 
and arbiters of their own destiny. 

With this brief opportunity for the parents to exert their 
influence, and to sow the seed of habits of action, and 
thought, that shall so soon spring up, ripen, and are gathered 
into the gamer, no time is to be lost. This is the more 


124 : 


# OUR CHILDREN". 


important, as tlie comparatively unrestrained intercom se 
of tlie sexes, in public and private, gives so many opportu¬ 
nities for improper action, that through simple ignorance, 
much wrong may be done, and great ruin be the result. 

This jumping into life, this mental precocity, this sud¬ 
den strain upon the judgment, the passions, the imagina¬ 
tion without any reference to the bodily fatigue, are a great 
tax upon the constitution. Parental judgment can do 
much, to diminish this strain by discreet guidance, and gen¬ 
tle remonstrance against excess. 

INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE 

But the most powerful, of all the agencies brought to 
bear upou the young mind, is the influence of example. 
Children insensibly copy the parents, and all that is need¬ 
ed for parents, is to inspire their offspring with due respect, 
to find themselves imitated in the greater part of their 
peculiarities. 

Thus, notwithstanding the marked impetuosity of youth, 
the increased favor and zealous interest taken by them at 
this new stage of their being, they are still insensibly check¬ 
ed, restrained, and governed, by the combined influences of 
their inherited characteristics, the power of example, the force 
of habit, and the inherent love for, and admiration of excel¬ 
lence, which in spite of creed and dogmas, I personally be¬ 
lieve is inherent in the nature of the human being. 

With puberty indeed, comes newness of life, the feeling 
of personal capacity, a dislike of restraint, and a willingness 
to incur responsibilities. The young sometimes do wrong, 
solely to show that they are their own masters, and can do 
as they please, even something which they were never 
permitted to do before, and perhaps would have been 
severely punished for doing. I have referred to this trait 
in another relation, and will not here enlarge upon it. 

In general, the sanguine character of youth is apt to see 


THE HIGHER DUTIES OF MATERNITY. 


125 


everything in most roseate aspects. AYe would be far from 
desiring to restrain the aspirations of youth, and force the 
young to watch the bright cloud, till it settles into the inevit¬ 
able leaden gray. Soon enough, the romance will pass away, 
and the stern realities of life face him on every side, but 
we would fain prolong this imaginative period. 

All the feelings, and passions, and impulses of the now 
pubescent being, should be developed, restrained, governed, 
not abrogated, destroyed, unrecognized. His enthusiasm 
should be directed to noble ends ; his thoughtful seriousness 
not permitted to brood itself into melancholy, but directed 
to elevated sources of inspiration. 

More especially should the girl, at this nascent period, 
be directed out of herself, out and away from the frivolities, 
and the littlenesses, which in spite of the talk of woman’s 
rights’ movements, and the supposed elevation of the sex, 
seems to be in reality, more than ever, the tendency of the 
woman of the world. They seem more than ever, given 
over to fashion, frivolity, the anxiety and labors of dress, 
and all fripperies of every class and nature. 

Let the mother strive to direct her daughter’s mind, to 
something higher, more enduring, and more truly beautiful 
than all the arts of the modiste can create for them—true 
refinement, and mental and moral elevation. These are 
reconcilable with every delicacy of mind, every grace of 
the most aesthetic life. Dress and adornment of every 
kind, are but heightened, and beauty rendered invincible 
by these additions. This is indeed gilding gold, this is 
truly painting the lily. 

This susceptible age, this turning point in nature, is also 
the age for impressions, and the turning point of the char¬ 
acter, and again I earnestly entreat every parent, not to 
neglect this brief and important period, in which so much 
may be effected. 


CHAPTER Till. 


THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF MIND AND BODY. 

I N the consideration of the various ailments and affections, 
with which one’s children may be, from time to time 
subjected, the reciprocal influence of mind and body upon 
each other, should not be lost sight of, or disregarded. W e 
note similar correspondences in adults, but they are not 
apt to be so thoroughly marked, as when manifested in 
immature life, and being more easily recognizable, their 
baneful effects can be more readily and surely obviated. 

The effect of mental excitement, as most frequently noted 
in connection with the excitement of school life, entering 
a new seminary, with the doubts and uncertainties of various 
descriptions, as a prejudice taken against a certain teacher, 
w T ho is supposed to have taken this child in special dislike, and 
every slight reproof is thereby magnified, as the evidence 
of persecution; the pride touched, by finding themselves 
holding a position, inferior to the remainder of the class, 
by reason of some unaccustomed method of instruction, a 
different system of marking, or carelessness, or inaccuracy, 
permitted in a former school, but not admissible at the 
new one. 

Sometimes the mind is unduly excited by some relig¬ 
ious movement, which disturbs the mental equilibrium. 
The child magnifies her infantile peccadilloes, till they seem 
heinous sins, unworthy to be forgiven. 

Sometimes even at a very early age, the heart shows it¬ 
self alive to the tender passion, and hope, fear, or jealousy ( 


THE MIND A SOURCE OF DISEASE. 


127 


fills tlie thoughts with vain imaginings. Whatever may be 
the cause, the excited and over stimulated brain in its restless¬ 
ness, allows no portion of the organism to be an indifferent 
spectator, to the troubles which agitate it. There is no 
fatigue of body perceptible, there is no hunger or thirst, 
and little, or no food is taken. The body wastes, the 
stomach loses its tone and pallor, extreme nervousness and 
general falling away, evince the constitutional disturbance 
arising from simple mental emotion. 

On the other hand, we find as marked mental disturb¬ 
ance, characterized by pains in the frontal region, distur¬ 
bance of vision, forgetfulness, an impossibility of fixing 
the mind upon any subject, and other infirmities and 
incapacities of a similar nature, all apparently pointing to 
some cerebral disturbance, where the seat of the whole 
difficulty lies in a torpor of the liver, in a debilitated condi¬ 
tion of the stomach, and digestive apparatus. These 
reciprocities should be recognized as early as possible. 
The parent should therefore be on guard when such kind 
of symptoms arise, and a little early anxiety, will perhaps, 
often be repaid by saving a child from prolonged illness, 
if not from a permanent disability, or a premature death. 

In such cases, one should consult a man of natural obser¬ 
vation, and quickness of intellect. “ Possession is said to 
be nine points of the law.” Just as truly it may be said, 
to recognize a disease in its exact nature is to more than 
half conquer it. 

I shall never forget a beautiful young girl, one whom I 
was called out of my bed to see, an hour or two after mid¬ 
night, a few day’s after Christmas 185—She was about 16 
years old, and had for quite a period been promised her 
first party on Christmas. She was alive with excitement 
for many days before. There were new dresses to be made, 
and hers was the first nice party silk, low necked, and all 
that, she had ever had. 


128 


OUR CHILDREN\ 


The party came off in due time, and long before the 
guests had ceased coming, she was compelled to leave them, 
and with a pressing head-ache and a high fever, to go to 
bed and send for the family physician. Unfortunately he 
was not a brilliant or a perspicacious man, and was con¬ 
tent to give her some trivial medicine, and without fully 
determining what was the trouble, to “ let things slide” 
and wait the progress of events. 

In this dubious way he dallied, till some few nights 
after, I was sent for as stated in the.night, and merely because 
I lived handy. The case seemed serious to me, and I 
ventured to so express myself to the family, and giving 
such medicines as were temporarily needed to alleviate the 
pressing symptons, and telling them to draw their own 
physician’s attention to certain symptoms, I left. 

A similar attack occurred during the next day, and a 
third physician riding by in his carriage, was hastily called 
in. Like myself, he. thought the case a grave one and so 
expressed himself, and the result was, a consultation was 
forced upon the attending “ old fogy.” The next night I 
was again summoned in great haste. A second consulta¬ 
tion was called the following day, but no interview was 
held with myself, or the physician who was so summarily 
taken from his carriage while passing the house. The 
disease was considered to be only hysterical, dependent 
upon suspended menses and the excitement aforesaid, and 
of little seriousness. 

On the morning of January 1st, we were all invited to 
the post-mortem examination, and then we saw that acute 
inflammation of the brain, and not any hysteria, was the 
serious disease that robbed fond parents of a most lovely 
daughter. Uot a distinct symptom had been evident, 
but the manifestations of illness, the pain &c., were all re¬ 
ferable by the old family doctor, to the abdominal regions. 


GREAT DOCTORS. 


129 


I do not introduce this topic, or illustrate it by this case, 
with the aim of teaching parents, or anybody, any facts 
relative to the recognition or treatment of similar disturb¬ 
ances of the system. I merely as I have said, think it 
extremely desirable to have due care given to the obscure 
symptoms of children. The results of careful watching 
can be communicated to a careful physician, a man of quick 
parts, educated to keenly perceive, carefully weigh, and 
thoroughly analyze. 

A tin-sign and a night-bell, on the lintel of the door-post, 
don’t make a doctor. When I hear of some men having 
high reputation as physicians, I have a very poor opinion 
of the intelligence of the population of certain towns, and 
counties, where their held of practice lies. The greatness 
of a supposed great man, is to be measured by his sur¬ 
roundings. Mt. Tom, and Mt. Holyoke, which rise abrupt¬ 
ly from level plains, appear to be veritable mountains, but 
Mt. Washington, that scarcely rises higher than its 
surrounding presidential peaks, equals in thousands, the 
hundred feet of the former. 

An intelligent community, compels its physician to be 
intelligent. There is not the humbug in medicine that 
there formerly was; the world is too well instructed for 
gross quackery, to triumph long or widely. Information 
is too generally spread for pretension to go far, without 
corresponding ability. Huge doses of nauseous medicines, 
the arrogance of self conceit, can deceive only the ignorant, 
and those of little understanding. The limitations of dis¬ 
ease, has begun to be recognized by the profession and the 
commnnity alike, as well as the inability of medicines 
in many complaints, which were once supposed to have 
been cured, but wdiich are now seen to have only got 
well, in accordance with their own natural tendencies. 

Some of my own greatest physical sufferings, and actual 


130 


OUR CHILDREN. 


dangers to my general health, in boyhood, arose from my 
being compelled to take upon an empty stomach every’ 
morning for many weeks, at one time Epsom salts, at 
another brimstone and molasses, to prevent my taking an 
epidemic scarlet fever or measles—and my doings was the 
habit of the times. I think no such customs are now prev¬ 
alent. The parents,who now so persistently “doctor” 
their children, do it with infinitesimals, which answers 
them just as well, and really does nothing. Vwe la 
bagatelle ! 















































































































































































































































































































CHAPTER IX. 


THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 

I T is unquestionably true, that there is a great want of 
correct understanding in respect to the principles of ed¬ 
ucation, in reference to the instruction of the children of 
the present day. The children of the past were not so well 
trained as those before them, and thus it results, that we of 
the present generation, are not so well capable to develop 
the physique, the intelligence, or the morals of our children 
as we should be. We have too little faith in any of the 
established theories of the past times, and while we have ? 
in our dissatisfaction, iconoclastically destroyed the ancient 
accepted ideas, w T e have failed to carve out any better 
substitutes. 

These transition states are terrible. A man rarely un¬ 
roofs his house, preparatory to some general renovation, 
but he gets caught in a sweeping gale, and is thoroughly 
saturated by some unprecedented storm of rain. 

This is markedly so in the training of children. But a 
little while ago, they were considered only as inert masses^ 
to be kneaded and moulded all into the same shape, by the 
same outward pressure. To-day, by some, each is consid¬ 
ered as a distinct creature to be studied, comprehended, 
and to have its individual course marked out for it, and in 
which it is to be compulsorily trained; by others, each 
child is to follow its own beat and inclination, to develop 
itself with little help from any around. Each of these va¬ 
rious theorists, exhibit their prize, scholars developed under 


132 


OUR CHILDREN. 


these varied plans, and each claim the palm tor their espe_ 
cial mode of training. 

IIow shall we educate our children f The question is 
fraught with the deepest interest. The love of offspring 
is instinct in all animal life. In man only does this interest 
continue with life, and beyond the separation which death 
temporarily makes between the parent and the child. Man 
everywhere lives and dies for his children, but in no coun¬ 
try does he sacrifice so much to advance their position, to 
develop their minds, as in America. While the ordinary 
mechanic and day laborer of Europe is contented to have 
his descendants inherit his farm or his workshop, to toil 
on as he has toiled, the American of every grade is unwil¬ 
ling that the coming generation shall not improve on the 
present. He regrets not, perhaps, his own deficiencies of 
education, but he aspires for something better for his heirs. 
Ho money is thought ill-spent, when lavished on their 
education. Unfortunately, he is not always so assiduous 
to educate the hearts of his children, who too often are 
ashamed to own their plain and honest parents to be their 
progenitors, much to their own blame and discredit as it 
may be. 

And here is the first point to be considered; an affection¬ 
ate respect for one’s parents is within every one’s power. 
It is in no manner dependent upon their intellectual or 
aesthetic education, natural capacity, or, perhaps, on their 
moral characters. Nothing can give us more pleasure, 
than to see the affection of some children that I have 
known, for their parents, seemingly with no grace, and 
disfigured by faults, and even vices. They could not forget 
that they owed their being to them—a debt that a life 
time of solicitude could not repay. These children had 
had the heart developed and educated. How this was 
done, cannot be told—it cannot be taught. It is a reflex 


TRAINING OF MIND AND BODY. 


133 


from the divinity within, stimulated and developed by a 
great preponderating influence from without. This is the 
true basis of children’s education, and most important of 
all. 

Physical education comes next. After the child is thus 
made worthy of life, he must try to develop its frame, its 
energies, its capacities. Without such a proper unfolding, 
and a healthy vigor, life has little value. How is this best 
accomplished ? 

The raiser of horses will tell you that a colt requires 
constant care. The farmer, however, thinks all he requires 
is to be turned out on some half barren mountains, or arid 
moor, during the summer, and to have the run of a bleak 
barn-yard, or unblanketed, to be in a rickety stable, fed on 
stubble and bare stalks. The horseman shields his stock 
from the wintry blast, and feeds him with grain as well as 
liay, to force his early years into their fullest development. 

But the same man, when he brings up his child, forgets 
his ideas of hygiene and development, and forces the 
growth of his child by feeding him on the strong meats of 
the table, ere his small teeth have fairly come, and cakes 
and candies are his common spoilers of appetite and diges¬ 
tion. For vanity and fashion, he sends him from the warm 
shelter of his heated house, with bare legs and arms, into 
the winds of a wintry day. 

As the colt gets older, he is sent for development and 
training, but he never speeds him, contented as he is, to 
learn him to walk, which albeit he is urged to do with 
his fullest capacity. But the boy is sent to school, and 
driven to the utmost, till his head bursts, and his energies 
give way, by this forcing in training. The brain is the 
least important development to be attempted by a parent, 
and yet the world generally considers it to be the most so, 
if judged by this practice. For what is the value of a fine 


134 


OUR CHILDREN . 


intellectual development, without a basis of health and 
vigor to sustain it, and make it of practical ability ? And 
what is the value of a life, if it is not guided and rendered 
desirable by moral worth, and the treasures of the heart ? 

Fortunately this, the most valuable of all the develop^ 
ments, need not be confined to nurses, or tutors, or instruc¬ 
tors. The least cultivated and simple-minded man can 
both sow the seed, and watch its tardy development, and 
stimulate its earliest budding forth. Thus we may all ed¬ 
ucate our children in the highest duties of life, and thus 
perfected, in any event of life, and under any circumstances, 
they will “ rise up and call us blessed.” 

Why should every man educate his son without regard 
to natural abilities for intellectual pursuits ? Why expect 
him to shine in the pulpit, or at the bar? No man would 
think to make a race-horse or a trotter of a common plug. 

Is it not the self-esteem of the man, or the vanity of the 
father, that sees such capacity in his child ? Has he such 
mental endowments, such a gift for language, such a taste 
for the beauties of style, that his son must inherit it neces¬ 
sarily? Mental capacity, of its peculiar character, is as 
much transmissable by the human being, as the bottom 
and speed of a Bashaw, or a Hambletonian. 

Parents should not expect to obtain from their children 
qualities that are not in the stock. No amount of college 
exercise will create gifts in a boy, any more than a prolonged 
training on a race-course will make a trotter of a plow-horse. 
True, you may spoil the temper of both, or break down 
both, by this ill-judged straining. This is not unfre- 
quently done with the boy or girl, though comparatively 
rarely with the colt; and this is because horse-training is 
better understood than child-development. 

The lesson to be learnt is, that children, as well as ani¬ 
mals, have their natural limitations, and no training can 


EXTREMES IN EDUCATION. 


135 


get them beyond their natural capacities. The apparent 
disbelief to the contrary arises from our national polit¬ 
ical character. Every one says that his son may be 
the future President of this glorious country, with which 
plausible fiction he makes himself happy, when to you and 
I, it is plainly evident, that although eligible, by no force of 
circumstances has the child an intellectual capacity capable 
of filling such a place. But in the vanity of the father’s 
mind, his son is entered for the course, and unfortunately 
his whole human life is tainted with this insane idea. 

The vaulting ambition is as productive of evil to the 
happiness and well-being of the future of a country, as 
is the stolid indifference which characterizes the people of 
the Old World. Our children are supposed to be “ too 
good ” for the duties of the ordinary spheres of life. The 
close of their career too often shows them not good enough 
for anything. 

There are two extremes in education. One educates too 
little, and the other too much—too much for tho powers of 
the body. The first scholar in my class in college (Har¬ 
vard, 1842,) died in about a year after graduation, and of 
consumption, inherent in his system from hereditary 
sources. His mother should have given him a common- 
school education and made of him a farmer, an engineer^ 
a sailor—anything but a scholar. He studied himself into 
a premature grave. A scholar needs to be a boy of robust 
health—not the sickly one, too delicate to be put to work. 

Parents are too apt to say, “ My child is so many years 
old. It is time she went to school; ” when a true judg¬ 
ment would say, “ This child needs country air, a pony, 
and an abundance of plain food.” The Hindoo parent 
kills all the puny, delicate children, and sending a delicate 
child to school, or doing anything to direct the blood to 
the brain, is producing disease, if not death. 


136 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Does not tlie mother pray nighty for her sweet, but 
delicate child, and say “ Take anything else, but spare her 
life. ” Her health then is everything, Education is an 
after consideration. You may have dreampt of your son, 
being the first scholar in his class, and “ wag his head in 
the pulpit” or sit upon the bench. This dream seems to 
be an impossibility. Don’t strive to realize it, or the 
chances will be, that a premature grave will settle the 
matter. Your child may be an upright, affectionate, and 
intelligent son—be contented. 

The great aim of all teaching should be, not to give 
them a certain amount of information, but so much as to 
lead them to learn where to find the information they may 
desire, and how to get it out. 

Some children have remarkable memories, indeed, many 
children have the faculty of memory to a far greater degree 
than most adults. These commit long passages, and are 
esteemed highly by their teachers, but after years are too 
apt to show that they had a very slight comprehension of 
the subject, and that it soon flitted from the mind, over 
which it produced no more effect, than a temporary shadow 
upon the earth. 

If an idea enters the mind, and is entertained there, it 
remains as a part and parcel of it. The actor is compelled 
to repeat a new role each successive night. All that he 
does is to read it over once or twice, and it is committed 
to memory, and lasts in the mind till the night’s perform¬ 
ances are over; at the end of the week it has entirely 
vanished from his remembrance. But if an idea connected 
with it, has entered his understanding and touched his 
heart, that is henceforth his property. Frequently he 
cannot repeat the words, but the beauteous thought is 
assimilated to himself. Memory may thus be called a hind 
of dyspepsia, for if food is received, digested, and acts as a 


SCHOOL EDUCATION. 


137 


nutriment, we know little about it, but if crude and 
unconverted, it repeats, and is constantly reminding us by 
its persistance tliat it is yet present. 

The great aim of American education, and this in marked 
contradiction to the Jesuistical method—is to induce 
thought. Our children are to choose their rulers, their 
religious faith, their own path in life. They are not to 
receive any ideas from pope, or autocrat, or fashion, but 
submit all to the decision of their own judgment. 

The importance of school formulas, valuable as tbey are, 
is nothing to that higher knowledge which can be taught 
by the parent at home. The school education is but a 
scaffolding, tlirovm away when the building is erected. 
This is evidently so, for few adults remember the steps to 
knowdedge which they took. The results are fixed in the 
mind indelibly. Our eye runs over the page of a newspaper, 
and gathers, in a comprehensive glance, all that is new in 
all this broad space, but the mind can hardly realize that this 
results from a. b.—ab—b. a.—ba, &c. 

Children are not expected to get much real knowledge 
at school, but only to learn how to get knowledge when it 
is desired in after life, as a carpenter’s apprentice learns 
how to use the tools of his trade; how to commence a 
piece of work, continue it, and finish to a perfect result. 

Parents need therefore have no anxieties respecting their 
children’s progress, even if they bring home no medals, 
provided that they are active-minded. School is not a 
race-course, but only a training ground; and in the contest 
of life, the purses belong to these who have not been forced 
but only directed, slightly stimulated and encouraged. 

School-books themselves are improperly made. They 
have short sentences, in a form to be easily committed, 
and the student is expected to answer by rote and the 
hearer to absolute memorizing the letter, in reply to ques- 


138 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tions, in small type, at the bottom of the page. These 
hooks are made not so much for the capacity of the scholar, 
as for the incapacity and laziness of the teacher. These 
are too often incapable, or too little interested to do ought 
else hut the simplest routine. They are not so much to he 
blamed, as those who expect to obtain a man who thinks 
himself qualified to teach others to think, for a sum scarce 
more than the most ordinary skilled labor. 

There is some change in the popular estimation of the 
position of a teacher, and what his character should be 
since my boyhood, but the community evidently does not 
have a sufficiently lofty idea of the position of a teacher, 
who really is one of the most important persons in so¬ 
ciety. He sometimes by his individual merit, wins his 
way to this reputation, but the people do not as a rule, 
properly estimate the individual, or the class. 

Going to school is unhealthy business. Even in the 
best schools in the community, there is not sufficient 
attention paid to the laws of hygiene. The school rooms 
are imperfectly constructed, the seats improperly made, 
the desks of wrong height. The aeration in very few 
schools is sufficient to properly change the air, which, with 
the improper temperature, makes it difficult for children 
to keep awake, or to command their full faculties. The 
unyielding fixed seats and desks, all of the same height 
for the tall and short, produce stooping, round shoulders, 
pigeon breasts, and many other diseases are ascribed to 
these causes alone. 

The public schools are the great propagators of disease. 
Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Dyptheria, Mumps, 
Chicken Pox, and the Itch are constantly present in the 
schools of our large cities, and are through them, kept 
constantly prevalent in the community. 

There is not a public school in this city, and the same is 


PROPER SCHOOL HYGIENE. 


139 


true elsewhere,—where beside the itch, all other vermin 
are not to be met with. I have personally known repeated 
instances, of both the itch insect and lice, to be present in 
the girl’s school of highest repute here. 

No matter how young and small the scholars, or the 
inclemency of the weather, severity of cold, or the sudden 
coming up of a shower, there is no one deputed to take a 
parent’s place, and see that the little ones are properly 
sheltered from its inclemency. The recesses are fearful 
exposures to scholars of all ages. Education is literally 
attained by peril to life, by exposure to foulness, pestilence, 
by incurring risk of disease, and deformity. 

The truth is, that the hygienic condition of all schools, 
should be properly regulated, and that a personal examina¬ 
tion of every school and every scholar, should be made at 
least, once a w^eek. 

No scholar detained at home by sickness, should be al¬ 
lowed to return, without a certificate stating the disease 
with which it had been ill, and a certain length of time 
should be required for purification, after every attack of 
any contagious complaint. In this way, the fearful epidemics 
would be very greatly diminished, and some might be en¬ 
tirely eradicated. 

The Board of Health in every city and town, should, for 
this purpose, create a special office, and appoint to it a man 
of scientific attainments, and a live man , not a politician, 
with no heart in the work. In this way surely, those dis¬ 
gusting results of dirt and neglect, might be entirely done 
away with. 

The ventilation and temperature should be guided by 
the thermometer, and not by the variable sensations, or 
imaginary whims of some hypochondriac teacher.. 

The length of time required of juveniles to be spent in 
study, should be much reduced. Children are too often 


140 


OUR CHILDREN. 


sent to scliool by the parents, simply to get rid of them; 
but no child under ten years of age, should stay more than 
two or three hours in this confinement, and that not 
consecutively. 

OVER STUDY. 

The usual hours of schools generally are not too long, but 
if so many studies are crowded into them, as in most city 
schools, requiring three or four hours additional study at 
home to master them, then too much is exacted, and this 
is very often seen in the pallid countenances of children, 
after having gone through the. winter term. Over-study 
is the tendency of the times, or if not over-study, over 
confinement in the pretence of study. Most children have du¬ 
ties at home, lessons in music, dancing, or some, housework. 
Although this is a change of labor, it is not recreative, and 
all children need time for diversion, in their own way. 
The mental application of many children is quite incessant, 
and far beyond their powers. A growing child ought no 
more to have his brain taxed so persistantly, than his mus¬ 
cles. Indeed, there is more danger from disease of the 
brain from over-work, than distortions of the body, and 
rickets from over physical labor. 

Let parents but consider that the whole work of the 
entire human organism is done by the blood, in a manner 
corresponding to that by which all the wheels and machines 
in a factory, are carried on by the water contained above 
the dam; as the power with which the wheels are turned, 
and the mechanism developed, is more or less strong and 
effective, depends upon the pressure above ; in the same 
way, the vigor, elasticity, and energy of the mental 
machinery is augmented, or depressed, as the blood is 
strong and powerful. 

Look at your puny, white faced child, and see if the 


A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE. 


141 


blood which courses through his veins, has apparently the 
vigor to move the wondrous instrumentality which creates 
knowledge, develops judgement, and eventuates in power! 

True, many bodily feeble, diseased and suffering, are 
capable of achieving great mental results, but this is because 
every energy of the system is directed to this end. The 
Prussians—while lam writing this—have taken every man 
from the field, the work shop and the loom, and thus 
directing every energy of an immense nation to one single 
end, have succeeded in accomplishing unheard-of results, 
and astonished not only themselves, but the entire world. 
Put at what a cost of suffering, deprivation and future 
misery, who can tell ? The untilled fields, the ungathered 
harvests, the want of provision for the coming winter’s 
food, fuel, clothing, will necessarily, entail woes, scarce 
less upon the nation, than would have befallen them 
if conquered. 

This lesson is but an exhibit on an immense scale, of the 
more exhaustive process, which you are inaugurating in 
your child. Every energy of his body is spent in his 
books. Ambition stimulated to its utmost, feels the over¬ 
taxed brain. All the vitality is drawn from the body, to 
nourish this great intellectual force. Youth is stopped, 
all waste flesh is utilized, the nerves are strained to their 
utmost. 

But the reaction must come. The pendulum will swing 
back correspondingly. The excessive stimulation will 
result in excessive exhaustion. The brain that has done 
so much will cease to act, and becomes incapable of any 
prolonged exertion; perhaps spasm and convulsion or 
complete inability will result as a consequence. 

ISTor is the exhaustion one of nervous energy alone. 
The digestive apparatus will sympathize, and alimentation 
will be difficult and incomplete. The muscular forces will 


142 


OUR CHILDREN. 


succumb with the general prostation, and if life is spared, 
it will be with difficulty, that an exhausted nature will 
resume her normal functions after a long period ot almost 
complete torpor. 

And what is over-study ? It is not necessarily, or per¬ 
haps even very frequently, seen in the scholars who 
are the leaders of the class, for these are children ot unusu¬ 
al powers, whose lessons are learned with little application, 
and great ease, and no moral or mental excitement. It is 
oftenest seen in those, whose energies are sharpened by 
ambition, either of theif own, or of their parents, anxious 
to see their child shine. 

Those, with but ordinary abilities, vainly strive to equal 
and indeed, surpass their fellow-students in the race for 
superiority. Perhaps they are stimulated by poverty, and 
really seem to need the reputation that should accrue to 
them, from this hoped for distinction—which alas for them 
never comes, but instead, despair, a wilting away, and a 
paralysis of all their energies. 

Teachers who are interested in their pupils, w T ill note 
this vain strife and will by a kind word, attempt to regu¬ 
late the ambition of those, who have none of the elements 
calculated for success in this direction : they will endeavor 
to lessen this discouragement to their hopes, by showing 
them that worldy success has many paths, and that a 
failure to succeed in the academic course, only shows that 
their talents lie in another direction, that more active 
pursuits, or one requiring more judgment, would be better 
adapted to their peculiar tastes and mental discipline, and 
thus withdraw them, without their arriving at this disaster 
already depictured. 


CHAPTER X. 

THE TEACHER’S PART IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 

T HE teaclier lias great responsibilities upon him, if be is 
conscientious in tbe performance of bis duties. Too 
often he thinks only of those brilliant scholars, whose success 
he hopes will add to his fame, and whose lessons will reflect 
credit upon the instructor. 

Often, the education of children is committed entirely to 
the discretion of the teacher. The parents are—by reason 
of their own neglected youth, of their distraction by the 
fashions of the world, by a dislike, or incapacity, or simple 
laziness and neglect of duty—neglectful of any responsibil¬ 
ity, and the child is merely sent with regularity to the 
school. 

The teacher, assiduous to do his whole duty with the 
children entrusted to him, will find the especial capacity, 
which each may have, and strive to develop it. Few 
there are that are insensible to praise, and by a judicious 
use of this sovereign stimulant, he may so encourage the 
youth, as to develop powers of great brilliancy. 

A very objectional feature in many institutions of learn¬ 
ing, from primary schools up to the highest colleges, is to 
rank the scholars by some one especial study, proficiency 
in which, will place the scholar high, even if eminently 
deficient in other branches of equal importance. Arith¬ 
metic, or as soundingly styled, Mathematics, is the measure 
in some schools, and the child of a merchant perhaps, 
inheriting a special faculty in this direction, and further 


144 


OUR CHILDREN . 


stimulated, by bearing during bis whole life, a paternal 
conversation, in which profits and calculations form a most 
conspicuous element, is brought into a superiority, by this 
method of “ marking” above the child of really superior 
mental calibre and intellectual attainments, whose mind 
has been little directed to figures and gains, but has soared 
into science and poetry and general aesthetics. 

The recitations in history and literature, and his composi¬ 
tions and dissertations plainly evinces this, yet he ranks below 
the former. Such distinctions are like those which we 
observe in a militia review, where the whole population are 
in arms, and where the gentleman, the scholar, and the 
men of thought, are temporarily ruled and commanded by 
the butcher, or the cobbler of the town, on account of his 
profound attainments as a tactician in military lore. 

Unfortunately, children do not see, or fully appreciate 
how shallow is this distinction, and how wrongly founded, 
and they are apt to be discouraged thereby. Figures are 
impossibilities to some minds, as language is to some, 
or spelling and grammar to another. How many great 
men of past days, that yet could never read or write! 
How many writers of great eminence, distinguished for 
depth and comprehension, and beauty of thought, and yet 
whose hand-writing is quite illegible. It would be full as 
absurd to “ rank” these men with a merchant’s clerk, and 
place them below, by making the standard of excellence to 
be the grace, and beauty of penmanship. If one should gauge 
a barrel by its length, without reference to its circumfer¬ 
ence, and measure the capabilities of a piece of cloth to 
make a garment, by its length, neglecting the breadth, it 
would be no more absurd. The intellect should be meas¬ 
ured by its entirety and not by one single faculty. 

The teacher should discover the peculiar faculty of each 
child, and should develop it, instead of vainly attempting 


INDIVIDUALITY RECOGNIZED. 


145 


to get from the child, what his nature debars him from 
acquiring. Excellence in the results of mechanical arts is 
attained, not by making mechanics capable of perfecting 
and finishing work, but rather by dividing the work into 
portions, each one of which, is the especial work of a differ¬ 
ent w r orkman. If the peculiar faculties of youth were thus 
recognized and encouraged, many neglected ones would be 
brought to an unexpected prominence, and carry away the 
palm from those now wrongly placed above them. 

The child too, that before so vainly labored in a study 
contrary to his genius, now in a natural track, advances 
with wonderful strides, and by a pleasant toil that gives 
no perceptible fatigue. 

And this is the main thing. The child is not discour¬ 
aged by non-success, but stimulated by its conscious 
improvement, exerts its best energies, and in the end, 
becomes flattered and encouraged into a real success. 
There is nothing so cheap as a kind and encouraging w r ord, 
and nothing that the teacher can better do for the real benefit 
of the scholar, than to be prodigal of praise where praise is 
due, and chary of blame even when deserved. “A teacher,” 
indeed, in both matters of decorum as well as learning, 

should keep one eye shut” as the German indiomatic 
proverb hath it. He should not see too much. 

RESPECT TO TEACHERS. 

Another point in this ^ connection may not be amiss. 
Children should be encouraged to hold their teachers in 
respect. The exaggerated ideas which pupils some¬ 
times enthusiastically entertain respecting the profundity 
of their abilities, need not be questioned or contradicted by 
parents. It is but human nature, to alike exalt one’s friends, 
and to detract from the deserts of those we dislike. If 
children look up to their teachers, they will receive far 
7 


146 


OUR CHILDREN ,i 


greater benefit from them, than if they continually hear 
from their parents and friends, disparaging accounts of 
their powers. 

More than this, parents, as well as their children, should 
hold the calling of a teacher in higher estimation, than is 
generally conceded to it. The world is beginning to give 
rank to this erudite class, "whose attainments are often of 
a loftier character, and the mental faculties of a far higher 
order than is seen in the other learned profession’s of 
medicine, law, and divinity. Indeed, it is perhaps very 
near the truth, if it should be claimed for the teachers of 
the world—including Professors in Colleges, and the high 
schools of science—that they were the most erudite men 
of the world. A few hours of the day are spent in teach¬ 
ing as a method of gaining a livelihood, while the balance 
is spent in the laboratory, the experimental room, in ex¬ 
plorations and researches into the obscure realms of thought, 
which reach beyond space and time, and into the most 
wonderful and obscure mysteries of creation and destruction. 

When we look at the labors and teachings, the discover¬ 
ies and the explanations, of such men as Agassiz, Huxley, 
Tyndal, and a host of the great thinkers of the" world— 
whose names are not so fresh in the memory, from want of 
recent publicity, as those given—when we look at such 
men, we feel that they deserve a high rank in the realms 
of science, in the reputation of the world, and the hearts of 
the scholars. 

The teachers of a Primary School, may have no eminent 
personal abilities, but they have a high calling, gilded by 
the reflex of the great men who adorn the roll of teachers, 
and the parent should recognize this eminent position, 
should invite them to the house, and in any convenient way 
show to their children that they are held in respect by them. 

If, for no other reason, the patience so often tested, 


THE TEACHERS PLACE. 


147 


deserves this recognition, and support from those who can 
appreciate its trials and endurances. The more humble 
the teacher—be he, or she, only the initiator of a. b.-ab, and 
one and one make two, to the child—the more gratified is 
the recognition to the teacher, and the more surely w r ill 
this recognition of the teacher, react beneficially upon the 
pupil. Having myself spent my college vacations in 
instructing the scholars of the ordinary district schools, in 
Hew England country towns, I know from personal exper¬ 
ience the worth of the propositions here enunciated. The 
teacher needs the moral support of the parents, in order to 
secure the most beneficial results to the children. 

This personal attention paid to the individual teacher, 
should be but a correlation of the general respect paid to 
genius. 

STUDIES SHOULD BE MADE INTERESTING. 

For children to succeed in acquiring information, their 
studies should be made interesting. This depends much 
upon the tact of the teacher, his personal recognition, and 
still more upon the natural aptitude of the scholar to 
receive the ideas. 

The tact of the teacher. This, with some, consists only 
in persistancy. Gen. Grant’s idea of “ constant hammer¬ 
ing,” may be, and w r as excellent as a means of breaking 
up rebel forces, but as a means of overcoming an incapacity 
to receive an idea, I doubt its utility. We know too little 
about the mental organization, to be able to force discordant 
elements upon the mind. There are some minds that are 
unimpressible to certain ideas, but this is overlooked by 
teachers. They know that some have no idea of the 
charm of melody, that others are not sensible to the 
measure of time, and are unable to see the rythm of sound, 
either in music or its sister poetry. 


148 


OUR CHILDREN. 


The musician recognizes this, and rejects such organiza¬ 
tions as musical pupils. Why does not the ordinary school 
teacher recognize the same want of faculty in his arithmetic 
scholar, his chemistry pupil? We know that certain 
persons can never acquire a foreign language, while another, 
with but half the same opportunity will master it perfectly. 

There should be a little more common-sense in the 
education of children, than there is at present. No one 
doubts that to make a swift runner, a strong lifter, an agile 
fencer, a sculptor, painter, judge, physician, soldier, &c., 
that certain natural requisites must be present. Why try 
to mould all children alike? One has an eye for drawing, 
cultivate that; one an ear and faculty for music, educate 
that i another has a clear insight into grammar, the beauties 
of style, loves poetry, appreciates reasoning and logical 
deductions—develop that faculty. Suum cuique —each 
has his gift and some few, several of them. Be thankful, 
and give this single talent a chance. A farmer that should 
say of his farm, “ there are forty acres, one quarter is fine 
arable land, another quarter is sand, and the remainder 
rock, but I will manure, cultivate all alike, it is all mine.” 
Would he not earn a chance of getting into the lunatic 
asylum, if he should be seen carting his manure on to his 
barren rock, dragging his plough laboriously over its 
unyielding surface, sowing the seed and expecting a crop ? 

Yet is he any more absurd than those who expect to get 
algebra, geometry, &c., out of a head that can with diffi¬ 
culty learn the multiplication table ? Does a horseman 
enter his big Pennsylvania team-horse, for a four-mile 
heat, at the Jerome Park race course? Would he not be 
jeered at by every idle boy ? And yet how much better is 
he, who expects of his child mental acquisitions, which his 
nature debars him from attaining by any possibility ? 

I once had a patient with a tonic dyspepsia, a natural 


THE NATURAL CAPACITY. 


149 


weakness of digestion, inherited for several generations. 
He complained one day that a certain article of food, 
distressed him exceedingly. He said “ his stomach refused 
to digest it, but he meant to eat it, till it would.” Teachers 
perhaps, sometimes act upon a similar like sensible rule, 
and they thrash and abuse their scholars, for deficiencies 
that lie in their nature, not in their desires. 

“Your child has no capacity” said a teacher to a shoddy 
millionaire.” “ Well,” was the reply, “ I have got plenty 
of money, I don’t care what it costs—Buy her one.” This 
is the argumentum ad absurdum. 

The next thing to recognizing a deficiency in the capacity 
of receiving a certain branch of knowledge, is not to 
degrade the scholar , in his own , or his fellow pupiVs esti¬ 
mation , on account of this deficiency. The child has some 
gift, make much of that. The capacity of happiness lies 
in it. Develop it to the utmost. There is a source of joy, 
pride, honor and distinction in that one faculty. See the 
whole class of musicians, to what distinction they arise, 
how lofty the eminence they attain, riches, peace while 
living, and their names recorded in the book of fame, when 
death has removed them from earthly renown ! And yet, 
scarcely one of them all, who had any other marked faculty, 
or mental development. 

The late Gottsclialk, whose funeral I but yesterday 
attended, was the only eminent professional musician that 
I have known, of all the hundreds that I have been per¬ 
sonally acquainted with, who was a cultivated, highly 
educated man, outside of and beyond his music. His 
naturally, great mental organization enabled him to be a 
linguist, a metaphysician, an accomplished scholar, and a 
brilliant ^writer. He was an exceptional man, and there 
are a few such in any sphere of life. 

Teacher, it is your business to analyze the mentality of 


150 


OUR CHILDREN. 


your pupil. There is fine gold in each one. Use your 
mental alembics, crucibles, and retorts, and you may discover 
in the analysis of character—perhaps by exclusion—the 
talent which your apparently stupid scholar “ like the 
toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet, a precious jewel, in 
his head.” 

Finally, “ are not our own geese swans ?” What parent 
but saw beauty in his pug-nosed, ugly boy, and talent, and 
good-nature in his spoilt and stupid girl ? Even if this 
were not so, we should do well to make the best of what 
we cannot help. We will see that our children have the 
best opportunities; there shall be no lack of effort, nor 
will we strive for more than can be obtained. 

What faculties our children have, shall be brought to 
light, and we will enjoy and be thankful for. The defi¬ 
ciencies we will put where they belong, to our own account, 
remembering “ that the man is father of the child ”—in 
other words, that the child is not only the offspring of the 
race as a species, but of the individual bearing the traces 
and consequences of his parentage throughout the whole 
of his compound nature—viz : his body, soul, and spirit— 
and as a serious corallary to this, that the career of that 
child for good and evil, for personal advantages or the 
contrary, for. intellect, or imbecility, and even for moral 
tendencies, if not written before his birth, with pen of ad¬ 
amant, on tablet of brass, “ is at least marked out for him 
by boundary lines, which to overpass, if unfavorable, will 
require more than ordinary courage, resolution, and a con¬ 
currence of favorable circumstances not often to be looked 
for.”* 

“the education of children.” 

What does it mean, but to so instruct them, not in Latin 


^Physician’s Problems.—Chas. Elam, M.D. Fields, Osgood & Co. 



REAL CHARACTER. 


151 


and French, and so as to be able to pass a creditable exam¬ 
ination before the corporate examiners, who are mere 
myths, so far as any capacity for accurately testing the 
intelligence of the scholars is concerned, but to so educate 
them that they may pass through their after life happily 
to themselves, and creditably to their acquaintances and 
friends ? 

The result of education is to enable a person to be some¬ 
thing, not everything. With a lofty intent, a high aim, 
let us do with our children the best that we can. Some 
boys, if not good horse-men, would be nothing; some girls, 
if not efficient house-keepers, would be nothing. 

We are content; we will leave the professions to those 
capable of tilling them ; we will make strong-minded wom¬ 
en of somebody’s else’s children, but we will make of our 
own what their own especial nature will enable them to 
become, and thus, as such, a pleasure to their friends, and 
finding solid happiness and content for themselves. “ Ma¬ 
ry has chosen that good part, that shall not be taken away 
from her.” 

Honesty in all the details of life, honesty of heart and 
soul, permeating every portion of the character, give your 
child but this, fill his mind full of this glorious idea, to be 
—not to pretend —to be indeed something, true and 
praiseworthy—that is sufficient for the result of character ! 
To be one’s self, no fashionist, with a change in dress, 
opinions, character as the wind may blow, but to be hon¬ 
est, truthful, sincere—this is character! 

The learning got from books, the advantages of innumer¬ 
able quarters of tuition of the first schools, with all the 
extras, “ silver fork and spoon, six napkins and ring ”—all 
the dancing master’s and elocutionist’s teachings, with 
“ the use of the globes” added, will not make a girl fit for 
a wife, and the duties of a mother. Education goes deeper 


152 


OUR CHILDREN. 


than that. It commences before the mother’s milk ceases, 
and continues long after in the course of nature, the poor 
mother “ under the daisy’’looks backward from the world 
of the future, at the career of those born in suffering, edu¬ 
cated in hope, and left with prayers. 

THE TWO NATURES OF A CHILD. 

In all our education we must remember—and I have 
stated it here often enough to be remembered—that the 
child has two natures, both inseparably connected together 
—viz: the body and the mind. 

There is more danger in severing the one from the other 
of these, than in dividing the materialistic bond of the 
Siamese twins, yet this is constantly neglected. It is the 
old fable revived, of the quarrel between the different 
members of the body, the stomach, the hand, and the eye, 
etc. Modern thought has begun to pay some attention to 
the body, and the remarks made by England’s great thinker 
and orator are so pertinent, that I trust I may be pardoned 
for larding my imperfect expressions by his matured and 
rich thoughts. He says: 

“-It was a great point in ancient philosophy, the value it 
attached to the body, and the proper training of it, the 
preservation of its health, strength, and all its proper pow¬ 
ers. Ancient philosophy did not despise the body, did not 
regard it as a mere husk or outside of human nature, or 
treat it as a despicable and absolutely vile thing; it regarded 
the body as a true part of human nature, deserving of 
proper deference, for the failure of which it was sure to 
retaliate fearfully upon the whole man. Hence the gym¬ 
nastics of the Greeks, which were not only fostered by the 
boxers and wrestlers, the drill-sergeants, and corporals of 
that day, but went on under the solemn sanction of sages. 
There is a distinction between the tone of ancient and 


THE BODTS CLAIMS. 


153 


modern thought on this subject, and the ancient has cer¬ 
tainly an advantage over the modern on this particular 
point—at least, over the modern before the latest improve¬ 
ments. 

“ It has been too much the fashion with us, to decry the 
body, to talk it down, to speak scornfully of it, in every 
possible way, to be always comparing it with the mind, 
for the sole purpose of showing how vile and worthless it 
is in comparison—a mode of speaking, which, even if it is 
true abstractedly, may be indulged in such a degree as to 
involve a practical untruth. 

“ Our didactic books have been full of the praises of 
midnight oil, all our oracles of learning have been vehement 
in favor of unsparing study, and the mind has been subjected 
to the most acute stimulants, while the body has been left 
to take care of itself as it can. Of course the great mass 
of our school and university youth, take the law into their 
own hands under these circumstances, and adopt very 
effective measures against being goaded with suicidal 
study, but a certain proportion have responded to the whip, 
and responded but too eagerly. 

“ These have been the tactics, we say, of our modern 
masters of the schools, and encouragers of learning—an 
unsparing use of the goad, a merciless appeal to student 
ambition and emulation, as if it was impossible to stir up 
these natures too deeply. But how one-sided is a discipline 
which applies this powerful^ sharp, and penetrating stimu¬ 
lus to the mind, while it leaves the body to itself, or 
rather, what is worse, suppresses and flings aside the claims 
of the body, which has to fare as it can, under the exclusive 
and oppressive dominion of its rival! How partial is such 
a system, and superficial because partial! After all our 
sublime abuse of the body, a body man has, and that body 
is part of himself; and if he is not fair to it, he himself, will 
be the sufferer. 


7 * 


154 


OUR CHILDREN. 


“ The whole man, we say, will be the sufferer—not the 
corporeal man only, but the intellectual man as well.. Par, 
ticular capacities may receive even a monstrous development 
by the use of an exclusive stimulus, but the reason and 
judgment of the man as a whole, must be injured, if one 
integral portion of him is diseased. If the body is thor¬ 
oughly out of condition, the mind will suffer, it may show 
a morbid enlargement of one or other faculty of it, but the 
directing principle—that which alone can apply any faculty, 
or knowledge to a good purpose, can regulate its use, and 
check its extravagances—is weakened and reduced. 

“How miserable is the spectacle of morbid learning, 
with its learned hoards, and its voracious, insatiable appe¬ 
tite for acquisition, united with the judgment of a child! 
Such study does, in short, leave mere children with remark¬ 
able memories, and acquisitive powers, who know as much 
history, philosophy, and poetry as would make a learned 
man, but who are not a bit the nearer true men in conse¬ 
quence, because they simply know by rote, what they 
know—they do not understand their own knowledge. 
This is to a considerable extent the case with all morbid 
learning, where the general intelligence has not been culti¬ 
vated—which general intelligence depends upon the sound¬ 
ness and health of the w T hole man, body, and mind also. 
The picture of Kirke White dying at the age of twenty-one 
of nocturnal study, wet towels around heated temples, want 
of sleep, want of exercise, want of air, want of everything 
which nature intended for the^ody, is not only melancholy 
because it is connected with an early death, it is melancholy 
also on account of the certain effect which would have 
followed such a course unchecked, if he had lived. We 
see, when we look down the vista of such a life, an enfee¬ 
bled and a prostrated man, very fit to be made a lion of, 
like a clever child, and to be patted on the head by patrons 


GENIUS TO FOLLY ALLIED. 


155 


and patronesses of genius, but without the proper intellect 
and judgment of a man. How sad even is the spectacle of 
that giant of German learning, Neander, lying his whole 
length on the floor among his books, absorbing recondite 
matter, till the stupor of repletion comes over him, for¬ 
getful of time and place, not knowing where he is, in the 
earth or in the moon, led like a child by his sister to his 
lecture-room, when the lecture hour came, and led away 
home again, when it was over ! Is this humanity we ask, 
as Providence designed us to be ? Is it legitimate, rational 
human nature ? It can hardly be called so. 

“ We must not let the mind refresh itself by the ruin of 
the body. The mind has no right to this indulgence, this 
dissipation, and whole-length abandonment to its cravings, 
any more than the body has to sensual indulgence. This 
mental dram, the noxious stimulant that produces this 
overgrowth of mind, is as contrary to nature, as the coarser 
stimulant which unduly excites the body. The mind 
should be a good, strong, healthy feeder, but not a glutton. 
We have no right to depreciate the body, or to speak of it 
only and exclusively as something which is vile in compar¬ 
ison with the mind. This language will lead astray. It 
will make ardent, ambitious students neglect health, and 
abandon themselves to the process of acquisition, at the 
cost of body, and ultimately of mind too. 

“ Do not use too unsparingly, the motive of ambition, in 
dealing with youth. It is a motive which is perfectly 
honest and natural within proper limits, but when pushed 
to excess, it produces a feeble, sickly, unmanly growth of 
character; it creates that whole brood of fantastic theorists, 
sentimentalists, and speculators, which in art, science, and 
theology alike, are the reducers and the corruptors of man¬ 
kind.” Times , ( London ) Oct. 28, 1858. ’ 

The great education which the parents can give to their 


156 


OUR CHILDREN. 


children, is in the enriching of the mind and heart with 
the true principles of life, not in the details of schooling. 

As the farmer plants a crop on a sterile soil, not with 
any hope of reward, for when it arrives at a certain growth, 
he purposely drives the plow through it, and turning it 
under the soil, looks for its reappearance, transformed and 
developed in the grain afterward sown; in the same 
manner, the parent keeps the heart alive to fresh impulses, 
which carefully tended, and buried deep in the mind, result 
in a like change, whereby the entire animal nature, and 
the celestial spirit are strengthened, developed, and the 
crop of virtue, happiness, and peace is ensured. 

ADDENDA. 

Since writing the above, I have read with great delight, 
as well as profit, a recent English work “ a physician’s 

PROBLEMS.” 

Had I time, I would re-write the foregoing chapter by 
its light. But I add the present addenda, to direct the 
attention of all interested in this subject of the reciprocal 
relations of Body and Mind, to the chapter in the work 
referred to. It should he read carefully by the parent anx¬ 
ious respecting the mental development of his offspring, 
and ambitious for their future greatness. It is a compen¬ 
dium of the knowledge of the world on this point, and I 
feel no little satisfaction in finding that in my imperfect 
way, I have been in the same path with this great thinker, 
and with the many erudite minds of the world, whose tes¬ 
timonies on this subject he has collected in the support of 
his views. 

Two of his resumes, I feel compelled to quote in full, in 
order to add a final polish to the present chapter. 

“ 5. The injurious effects of mental labor, are in great 
measure owing 

To excessive forcing in early youth: 


PREGNANT THOUGHTS. 


157 


To sudden or misdirected study : 

To tlie co-operation of depressing emotions or passions: 

To the neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene: 

To the neglect of the hints of the body, or 

To the presence of the seeds of disease, degeneration, 
and decay in the system. 

“ 7. The extended and deep culture of the mind, exerts 
a directly conservative influence upon the body. 

A WORD TO THE WISE. 

“ Fellow Laborer! One word to you before we conclude. 
Fear not to do manfully the work for which your gifts 
qualify you ; but do it, as one who must give an account, 
both of soul and body. Work, and work hard, whilst it is 
day, but the night cometh soon enough—do not hasten it. 
Use your faculties; use them to the utmost, but do not 
abuse them—make not the mortal do the work of the im¬ 
mortal. The body has its claims, it is a good servant; 
treat it well, and it will do your work—it knows its own 
business. Do not attempt to teach or to force it; attend 
to its wants and requirements, listen kindly and patiently 
to its hints, occasionally forestall its necessities by a little 
indulgence, and your consideration will be repaid with 
interest. But task it, and pine it, and suffocate it; make 
it a slave instead of a servant; it may not complain much, 
but, like the weary camel in the desert, it will lie down 
and die.” 

And after all, we must not forget in our educating pro¬ 
cess, how brief is the period before us. Death is the great 
teacher, as well as harmonizer. The body demands strength¬ 
ening, but for a period, the mind requires stimulation and 
development but for time,—the development of our bet¬ 
ter nature is for eternity. What we need most to look 
at in ourselves, in our children, in the study of individual 


158 


OUR CHILDREN. 


men, and the history of mankind, is that inexplicable, in¬ 
comprehensible mystery, 

THE RESULT OF LIFE. 

When we stand beside the coffin of onr departed friend, 
and gaze on those features once instinct with life, so lately 
the play of such varied emotions, but now stolid and im_ 
movable in death; when we see that calmness of death 
momentarily assuming a more placid and benign expression, 
every trace of agony or discomfort or dissatisfaction fleeing 
away; when we note the serene beauty which so gradually 
creeps over the face of the departed, and transition from 
this world to the realms beyond, is physically characterized 
by so marked an expression of content, and almost beatific 
serenity; when we who remain behind look tearfully, and 
often at the same time so enviously, at the beautiful rest 
of one who has finished his labors, who has laid aside grief 
and troublings, who now is standing behind the curtain, 
and to whom the great drama of life is unfolded in all its 
hidden workings—we are moved by a thousand fancies. 
Thoughts are evoked, which else might never have arisen, 
and memories are stirred that have long been buried in a 
fancied oblivion. But the great thought arises and forces 
itself into every mind, What is the result of our friend’s 
life ?—and yet not to be measured by the material wealth 
left behind, of worldly honors, monuments, heaps of gold 
—what has he taken away as a support, passport, letter of 
credit, character and reputation, wherewith to commence 
his renewed life in the unseen world ? 

Theology gives the modern thinking man cold comfort, 
if any at all. The men whom we have despised as we met 
them in the world—men the vast portion of whose lives, 
even to the moment preceding death, have been lives of 
disorder, and wrong-feeling, and bad actions—a prayer, a 


WHA T MIGHT HA VE BEEN? 


159 


rite, a genuflexion, and a few half-sensible, half-audible 
words, extorted by fear, not love—tjjese, the Church has 
told us, have died in the faith, and been gathered into glo¬ 
ry. We cannot agree with this; we find heaven, thus 
peopled, no place for our aspirations, nor its occupants those 
we would seek for company. 

Religion, on the contrary, teaches us of better things. 
Religion is in every heart—God-implanted. Faith in the 
God of the Universe, belief in the great principles enunciated 
in the Holy Scriptures, of love to God and love for man, 
translated by our minds into our own hearts and souls— 
actions such as we have been best able to perform with our 
whole weak might, with trials and heart-wringings, and 
oft-times in despair—Religion tells us, through no priestly 
voice, but from the teachings of our own consciences, that 
no more is required than can be performed, no sacrifice 
beyond our means, no faith that surpasses the possibilities 
of our nature. We believe, because we must, and as we 
must. 

And we look into the open coffin. There is mystery in 
the past, and mystery in the future. God only knows what 
we have accomplished with the limited means He gave us 
to act with. He alone is our Judge. 

We ask in vain if our friend used his life as best he 
might—if he overcame temptations, benefited his kind, his 
race, the world! We recognize the transcendent talents^ 
or the weak capacities, but their limitations, the inseparable 
alter egos of weakness, vacillation, and the exhaustion fol¬ 
lowing their exercise—these are beyond our ken. 

What might have been, had these qualities had different 
surroundings, developed under other atmospheres—were 
the lion’s strength added to the gazelle’s symmetry and 
lightness ? Suum cuique. Each has his own gift, each his 
own opportunity for development. We are but clay in 


160 


OUR CHILDREN. 


the hands of the potter, and it is the part of happiness, as 
well as true wisdom—wisdom that comes direct from the 
Great Source—to recognize the limitations of all things, 
and instead of repining that more was not accomplished, to 
wonder that so much has resulted, and to give thanks. 

Millions of thistle-downs waft their seed over the broad 
savannas, yet how few germinate, and fulfill their apparent 
destiny! The roving fish from the depths of the ocean, 
thousands of miles distant, comes back to the place of its 
birth, to return, in compensation, the fruit of its year’s 
incubation. Of the millions of eggs thus produced, and 
toilfully deposited, not a tithe are fructified and developed. 
In the more lordly man—yet a mere creature and depend¬ 
ent, formed for no far loftier end that we know, if in vanity 
w r e imagine for a higher purpose—can we expect a greater 
percentage of perfected development ? 

We look again into the coffin. Untroubled by our im¬ 
aginings, our friend lies in calm repose. The doubts we 
have had, once his, are now cleared up to him, and as the 
traveler finds still before his advancing footsteps constantly 
rising, new, and as dimly seen mounts as the before blue 
and obscure peak, to a knowledge of which he has just 
attained, so in the distant realms of the unseen world ? 
whither our friend has reached, new worlds of constantly 
increasing glory are doubtless ever before his eagerly peer¬ 
ing eye. 

“ Who, by searching, can find out God ?” and yet, till 
we find Him, can we discover ourselves, our capacities, the 
object of our creation, and the mysteries that ever enshroud 
us from the cradle to the grave, or can w r e answer the in* 
quiry, Has our friend lived in vain ? 


CHAPTEK XL 


AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATIONS. 

T HEKE are few changes in the moral world during the 
last century, more marked than that which is noted in 
relation to amusements. The word itself is derived from 
musare signifying to stand idle; and this of itself, was 
esteemed a crime of no slight magnitude. Amusement and 
idleness synonymous! No wonder that in this land at 
least, for the last hundred years it should be looked at 
with reprobation! 

Very recently indeed is it, that an idea, that some re¬ 
laxation from constant toil was necessary for strength of 
both body and mind, has been entertained by the teachers 
of youth, and the directors of the ideas of the world. 
Centuries ago it was written Apollo non semper tendit 
areum , and more modern philosophy has said that “ all 
work and no play would make Jack a dull boy,” but 
practically these teachings were forgotten. 

Perhaps the influence of monastic discipline, had no 
little to do with forming the habits of the world. The 
silent influence excited by whole regiments of lazy monks, 
who, although they rarely did anything beneficial, yet 
pretended to be always engaged in some occupation, 
keeping their fingers moving their beads, and rolling up 
their eyes most sanctimoniously, a supposed most praise¬ 
worthy pursuit. 

This influence was exceedingly pernicious; they never 
smiled, or seemingly felt any pleasure. More than this, 


162 


OUR CHILDREN 1 . 


they were assiduous in keeping up every one else to most 
active labor, frowning upon all amusements that they were 
able to. This influence descended into the Protestant 
clergy, and not till a very few years past, in this country, 
would even an incipient divinity student engage in a game 
of ball, or if he rode a horse, would he go faster than a 
most solemn trot. The sensible and healthy recreations 
of the English clergy, were severely frowned at, and their 
piety was even doubted, because they followed the hounds 
with the best men and women of the country. 

Fortunately in every respect it is, that a change has 
come over the feelings and judgment of the intelligent part 
of the community, for any change is far better than a per- 
sistance in wrong. Even to do worse, is better than to 
stand still. 

There are many wrongs done constantly, and tolerated 
because they have been tolerated for so long a period, and 
because change also brings temporary discomforts with it, 
and there is an uncertainty about what the future will 
bring forth. But make it a little worse, and then the 
“ last straw” is added, indignation supplants our reason, 
and revolution is the consequence.-^We are praying, for 
an example, that the elective judiciary of this country may 
be but a trifle more venal, dishonest, and vile than at present, 
•—if that is possible—if not, that the people will only just see 
their actual present depravity, and then—won’t the whole 
system be reversed ? 

Fortunately I say, it has been discovered that some 
recreation was necessary, but unfortunately, the best kind 
of amusement has not always been selected, and how could 
any thing better be expected, when the selection of amuse¬ 
ments was made at the instance of that portion of the 
community, that never know anything about amusements, 
as recreation for the mind, or recreations of wasted vigor, 
and lost mental force ? 


MUSCULARITY 0 VERD ONE. 


163 


The catholic clergy, for years, have thought to combine 
health with study, toil and asceticism—in vain. They had 
ghostly books read to them, while eating their daily meals. 
They walked around their cloister yards, never heeding 
the glorious sun, or the beauteous moon, whose calm 
serenity might have been a lesson to them; but as they 
walked their solemn round, they told their beads, or read 
over their dismal prayers which contained scarce a recogni¬ 
tion of the love and goodness of God, but appeals against 
his implacable wrath. The result was, that every religious 
monk and priest, was a sour, pallid, unhealthy specimen of 
humanity. 

But the amusement reformation, introduced clubs of 
ponderous weight, and dumb bells, and the muscles were 
developed by lifting and straining, in the effort to rival 
the ox—like the frog in the fable—not in size, but in 
strength, with the similar fatal result of over-doing—the 
bursting of blood vessels, and the like injurious results 
from a competition entirely uncalled for. 

Next came boat-clubs, and racing, and the whole 
energies of the scholar’s life spent in the intellectuality of 
boat pulling, and the training. 

It is generally know, that the training for prize fights, 
and prize races, while it exerts a temporary benefit, is 
utterly inconsistant wuth health when prolonged ; that the 
time when it can be continued is very limited; and that a 
constant persistance in it would be death! 

Collin’s “Man and Wife” gives a truthful portrayal of 
the folly, and unhealthiness, of the excessive muscular 
pursuit. This is a “jumping from the frying-pan into the 
fire,” for probably less evil would result to the health from 
the former student life of the world, while the moral 
deterioration would be unquestionably diminished. 


164 


OUR CHILDREN\ 


BILLIARDS. 

The religious teachers have also approved of billiards, as 
an in-door, unobjectionable form of relaxation. It is reput¬ 
ed to be wonderful as exercise, that it teaches the science 
of angles, momentum and resistance, and other branches of 
physics. With as much propriety, it might be judged a 
teacher of mathematics, as it teaches counting as far as 
live; or gunnery, inasmuch as it has to do with balls! 

The objections to billiards are numerous. First, it is 
very expensive, as a table will cost from $500 to $1000 ; 
then it must have the exclusive use of a very large room 
for the whole time. The appliances of light &c., are a 
constant expense. These amount to a very large sum per 
annum. A billiard player, playing generally at public 
tables—where the one who loses the game pays for the 
whole, and being of some force, had therefore but compar¬ 
atively rarely to pay this expense—told me that he 
thought billiards, without any other incidental expenses, 
such as drinks, &e., had cost him $3000, and he was about 
40 years of age. 

Then there is nothing in any way elevating, reviving, 
graceful, or beneficial about it. It is a house game, and is 
played when one ought to be out of doors, in the enjoy¬ 
ment and benefits of sunshine and air. But the greatest 
and incontrovertible argument, of all that can be said 
against it, are its demoralizing qualities; I assert it in 
opposition to all the Young Men’s Christian Associations, 
that have introduced billiard tables into their rooms—if 
any have, as I have heard it stated. Billiards lead men to 
the worst purlieus of the city, into communication with the 
vilest denizens of any town, village, or city, where there is 
a billiard table, amidst all the allurements of drink and 
dissipation. 

“ But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 

^ We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” 


AN OBJECTIONABLE AMUSEMENT. 


165 


Merchants, and clerks, and that multifarious class yclept 
brokers, spend their nooning where they can see or unite 
in the game, at a serious pecuniary cost to a poor man. It 
is a reason for stopping in at some low place on the way 
home. It is the first in a series of irregular places, for which 
a young man leaves his parent’s house, and his sister’s, and 
best friend’s virtuous company, to spend his dissipated 
evenings. 

Finally, in a quite considerable experience, I cannot 
remember one man of real ability, and who has attained 
to any real excellence in any elevated pursuit, who plays a 
superior game of billiards. It consumes too much time, to 
permit a man to attain anything else. 

Furthermore, as a reason rather than argument, I object 
to it on the ground that it takes a young man, not only 
out of his own house, but where ladies, his sister, wife, and 
mother, cannot accompany him. They can unite with 
him gaming, fishing, boating, riding, but they can’t go to 
a billiard saloon. 

Having thus protested against some of the methods of 
getting exercise, and amusement, in vogue at the present 
period, while at the same time I have asserted the necessity 
of some form of relaxation, for both mind and body, and 
that too, of both young and old, it would seem inconsistent 
not to find some substitute that might be acceptable, after 
this iconoclastic raid. 

THE KIND OF EXERCISE REQUIRED. 

In the first place, I protest against anything being done 
simply for exercise. Exercise should be something more 
than a movement of the muscles. It should be either 
connected with amusement, or utility, to be beneficial. I 
am very much in the habit of telling the parents of my 
young patients, not to send their children for a monotonous 


I 


166 OUR CHILDREN. 

walk, but to find an errand for them. Go and call upon 
some friend with a message, a note, or a mile off for a 
particular spool of thread, or paper of pins, and which the 
young child is to think of some considerable importance. 
As the girl gets older, she can walk home with her father, 
or brother, meeting him on the way from his business. 
Instead of a young man’s swinging a ponderous club, let 
him chop wood, or shovel the snow from his sidewalk. I 
would like to see a city boy with moral, as well as physical 
strength enough, to dare do it in any of our cities. Labor 
and health have got to be degrading. 

Horseback riding, and other luxurious amusements in 
city life, it is unnecessary to recommend as a matter of 
health. I say unnecessary, because it is generally admitted 
to be the best of all forms of exercise, and all that is requi¬ 
site for indulgence in it, is the horse and equipments. 
There is absolutely no objection to it for both sexes. I 
trust that it is in the power of every reader, to put their 
children on horseback at an early age. By a careful grada¬ 
tion in the characters of the animals, in a very short time 
there will be no appreciable danger in their riding any 
ordinary beast. 

But I would like to see an American youth practicing 
it as an accomplishment—for very few attain to anything 
more than keeping on the animal, all grace and thorough 
command of the horse, being generally neglected. No 
better amusement, as well as health, is to be found, than in 
training a young horse to all the tricks of the manege, and 
let me say that patience, and kindness, are as essential to 
horse-training, as in child-training. 

Another manly art, as well as interesting amusement, is 
in obtaining a thorough knowledge of fire arms, and mili¬ 
tary arms generally. Military drills are great, capital forms 
of experience, and the natural enthusiasm of youth, should 


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; 






. 

■ 

. 






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. 








PROPER AMUSEMENTS. 


167 


be encouraged in this direction. Boys should be encoura¬ 
ged to go gunning in the country, and in seabord cities, to 
the shore, where if the game is scarce, the beach will allow 
prolonged walks with tine air, and sufficient excitement to 
prevent any feeling of fatigue. 

The timidity of parents, should not stand in the way of 
the physical and moral development of their sons. There 
are too many like the ancient Greeks, that will not permit 
their sons to go into the water, until they have learnt how 
to swim. They are not willing that their sons should have 
guns, until they have learned how to use them. They 
seem to forget that a boy without a true, noble, manly 
character, had far better be dead. 

Swimming, boating, every opportunity of personal 
development, should be eagerly sought. 

I should like much to see the old custom of wrestling 
re-introduced into general practice. How far more enob- 
ling than the Indian clubs, the straining at lifting great 
weights, on platforms made for the purpose. Wrestling, 
makes a man able to use his limbs in case of any accident, 
to defend himself against gamblers, foot-pads, burglars and 
the like. 

In connection with wrestling, there are certain in-door 
sports, and accomplishments, universally superior in every 
point of view to billiards, and one of these is the graceful, 
ennobling art of fencing. Nothing is more delightful, to an 
observer, than to see a fencing match with rapiers. Here 
come in the highest qualities in manhood, quickness of 
perception, strength, rapidity in action, and a certain sort 
of nervous courage, even with foils and masks. 

Simply as exercise, there are few more conducive to 
general physical development. Legs, back, arms, every 
muscle and nerve are brought into full play, not with real 
exhaustive strain, as in the laborious liftings, and pullings, 
of more recently introduced methods of exercise. 


168 


OUR CHILL REN, 


Another great benefit is, that it can be indulged in out 
of doors, as well as in the house. The foils and masks are 
easily transported, and thus in the fresh, brisk morning air, 
under any sheltering tree, it may be indulged in its full 
measure. 

The same remarks may be made, respecting u the manly 
art of self defense.” Boxing is excellent exercise, but 
rougher, and always to me, had something low and degrad¬ 
ing to a person of gentlemanly instincts. Still I always 
regret, that I was not early taught an accomplishment, 
which is often found in the experiences of after life, to have 
its advantages and benefits, among which, the feeling of 
being able to protect one’s-self from any drunken attack, 
when going about on necessary business, is not at all to be 
overlooked. 

Boys should be encouraged in all manliness. Nobility 
of thought and act, in contrast to the degrading tendencies 
of modern money-making, is to be sought for and developed 
by every possible means. Parents are too apt to consider 
the danger to life or limb, and are restraining their boys 
from climbing trees, from learning to swim, to ride, to 
hunt, and the like, while they quite overlook the danger 
arising from the encouragement of habits of indolence, and 
love of ease. 

The worst thing that can happen to your children, is 
not to break their limbs, or even to get killed. “ Far 
better,” many a parent has said, “ had I buried my boy 
when he was 10 or 15 years old, than to have him now, as 
he is, a miserable, worthless man, a disgrace to himself, 
and a curse to all his friends.” 

Parents should remember that boys will be' something; 
either you make them, by every encouragement, manly, 
honorable, adventurous, or they will be mean, sneaky, and 
base. There is no soil, so sterile that something will not 


AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YE REAP. 


169 


grow on it. If it is left to itself, tares and weeds will riot, 
if carefully tended, there will be a corresponding growth 
of sterling grain,—but the seed you must sow. The 
quantity and quality of the crop, depends upon the natural 
excellence of the soil, and the superiority of the grain that 
you have selected for seed. 

SPORTS AND EXERCISES FOR GIRLS. 

There are less out of door sports for girls, indeed their 
natures do not render them necessary. They have not the 
same restless activity of their brothers, still they have the 
same necessities for fresh air, and excercise, which are not 
to be neglected. 

Modern life has not the labors of our parents; spinning, 
churning, and the thousand in-door employments, so full 
of variety and exercise. Still Croquet is considered a 
blessing, inasmuch as it is an out-of-door, gentle exercise, 
and a social pastime, tending to the happy union of pleas¬ 
ure seeking and exercise. The city girl however, can find 
little out-of-door exercise, except that of walking. I have 
already mentioned how desirable it is, that this should be 
with an ostensible object. 

In-doors, the most seriously exercising labor is making 
beds, and even this, with the modern healthy, general sub¬ 
stitution of mattresses, for the feather-beds, that needed so 
much shaking, is almost wanting in any real labor. 

A moderate use of the sewing machine, is enough ex¬ 
ercise, for an hour a day, for the lower extremities, and an 
equal time at the piano, will do as mueh for the arms and 
hands, if the piano is actually played with force and 
emphasis. 

There need be no fear respecting the unhealthiness of a 
sewing machine. Of course, one should no more ex¬ 
pect to use a machine all day, than to ride on horseback 
8 


170 


OUR CHILDREN 1 


all day, without previous preparation; but one is as easily 
and safely done as the other. All that is necessary is to 
use it the first day, after any long abstinence from its em¬ 
ploy, for a short period, and then, every succeeding day, 
for an increased length of time, and thus no injury will 
ensue, unless used beyond one’s strength. This is more 
especially true of the light Sewing Machines, like Whee¬ 
ler & Wilson’s, Wilcox & Gibbs, and the Weed, which, I 
know are unsurpassed in the ease and little fatigue conse¬ 
quent upon their employ. Furthermore, the work they 
do, is especially adapted for family use. 

Battledore and Shuttlecock , and Graces , are sports that 
seem almost forgotten, but unsurpassed for pleasure, exer¬ 
cise to the whole body, combined with grace and beauty. 
They develop the muscles, while they give ease to the 
movements, by the rapid changes of posture required. 

Of late years, Skating has come very much into vogue 
among the young. This is essentially a boy’s sport, and 
I think it should be confined to them. My own experi¬ 
ence in its effects upon girls is very much against it, more 
especially in cities, where the change from the in-door hot¬ 
house life, to the freezing exposure, even for a very short 
period, is fraught with danger. If girls were going out 
every day, and spending a large portion of the time in the 
open air, the objections would be less, but even then, 
enough would still remain to make such sports very un¬ 
desirable. 

The natural coquetry of the sex, in the crowds that 
swarm upon the ice near large cities, induces them to 
dress more for exhibition, than with an eye for health. 
Then the peculiar functions of womanhood are most ma¬ 
terially affected, by the falls and accidents so commonly 
experienced, by the extreme cold of the extremities, 
and by the unwonted exercise, with so great impetuos- 


HEALTHY AMUSEMENT. 


171 


ity and excitement. These latter accidents are as liable 
to occur in the quietude of country life, as among the 
crowds of city rinks and park ponds. I have had nu¬ 
merous patients, with marked uterine disturbances, who 
report the date of its commencement, to certain ska¬ 
tings in the various parts of the United States. One, a 
country girl from New Hampshire, dated an illness of 
many years to skating near her own home. 

The Skipping Hope is a very common, graceful, and 
fascinating amusement for young children. It has much 
to recommend it, as a happy union of exercise and pleas¬ 
ure. I am sorry to say one word against it, and I will do 
it very gently. Parents should limit the ambition of chil¬ 
dren when very expert . There is a rivalry among little 
girls, as to “ who will keep up longest.” This is some¬ 
times carried on to a very great excess, to great strain on 
the muscles, and more especially to a tax on the heart, 
sometimes predjudicial to health. I have known children 
whose serious heart disease dated from this rivalry, and 
parents would do well to guard against excess. 

Girls should be encouraged in running. There are few 
games for girls in which running forms any portion, but 
with a skipping-rope, or a hoop, they are willing and 
anxious to “ go around the block,” in cities, where such 
amusement is, perhaps, alone desirable. This is a side¬ 
walk exercise which should be encouraged, and it is one 
that is especially useful in all temperatures. 

There is no better form of exercise for growing girls, 
than rowing a boat. A large, broad, flat-bottomed boat, 
one not easily upset, provided with oars not too long, or 
heavy, and a shallow creek or pond—then ad libitum en¬ 
couragement, to go out at any time for a “ long pull, a 
strong pull, and a pull all together. 

This form of exercise is very fascinating for girls, and is 


172 


OUR CHILDREN . 


peculiarly beneficial for tliose with a tendency to stoop, 
and grow round shouldered. The long pulls, laying back 
on the oar, and exerting the whole strength in a real man¬ 
ly fashion, brings out the chest most superbly. 

If ladies would establish boat clubs, with boats of from 
two to six oars, upon our rivers and lakes, they would 
make a move in the right direction. They would be as¬ 
tonished at the vigor they would derive thereby; the 
beauty of their arms and chests at the winter parties, 
would be noteworthy, and their power at the piano would 
be noticeably augmented. 

Many growing youth of both sexes, are dressed to grow 
round-shouldered, and braces, and mechanical appliances 
are called for to rectify this failing. The exercise of pull¬ 
ing an oar for an hour or two per day, will be found worth 
them all, and most fascinating, if properly conducted. 

I have known many young ladies compelled twice a 
day, to lie flat on their backs upon the floor, and for a 
half hour each time, to alternately raise their hands straight 
over their heads, touching the floor, and then putting them 
down by their sides, and this every day for a year. Oth¬ 
ers, swing upon ladders—a matter of actual labor, and 
a serious tax on the patience and temper. 

For a year or two, I gave up the use of one parlor—the 
highest room in the house—took up the carpet, and erect¬ 
ed a ladder, upon which my children hung for a half hour 
twice a day; a most vexatious thing to enforce, and for 
the children to practice. But the threatened distortions 
of the spine, so often seen in children are to be counter¬ 
acted by any means, within the power of a parent. 

GYMNASTIC EXERCISES. 

This leads to a consideration of gymnastic exercises, and 
gymnasiums, now so common in public and private schools, 
as well, in some degree, in families. 


GYMNASTIC EXERCISE. 


173 


I have already said that exercise should be an adjunct, 
and incidental to either business or pleasure. We will 
walk any number of miles with gratification, with either 
for an object, but painfully, and laboriously, if this is for 
some exercise, imagined to be hygienic and necessary. It 
is laborious to work at a force pump for a quarter or half 
an hour, when it is considered to be doing a service, as 
filling a reservoir at the top of the house, and guarding 
against fire &c. The same work would be unfrequently, 
and in fact very rarely done, if it was known that no other 
end was accomplished, than to head off some suspected 
spinal irritation, or even prevent dyspepsia. Most people 
would prefer to take a pill or two, and leave prevention 
alone. 

Gymnasiums therefore must, to be practically useful, be 
made interesting. This can never be done unless there is 
something beside the mere exercise. It needs the excite¬ 
ment of Society, the stimulus of competition, or the 
encouragement of spectators, and admiring friends. Give 
the persons the excuse of utility, for doing something that 
is agreeable, and the great end is accomplished. If the 
gymnasium is made a public resort, if there be competition 
and comparison, then business and pleasure are both furnish¬ 
ed—and the result will be successful. 

The next point is the character of the exercises intro¬ 
duced. A very great improvement has been made in this 
particular, within a few years. Great muscular development 
is not desirable to most young men, to no ladies. What 
is needed is grace and agility. Those exercises which 
will bring into play the most muscles, use them not to 
fatigue or to do more than thoroughly excite, without 
wearying them—this is the exercise desirable. 

The light gymnastics, intended for the wants of gentle¬ 
men and ladies, not for laborers and milk-maids—this is 


174 


OUR CHILDREN. 


what is seen in the graceful and agreeable series of muscular 
actions, originated I think, but certainly well developed by 
Dio Lewis. It has always seemed to me, for gentlemen 
to be attempting to lift tens of hundreds of pounds, 
harnassed in leathern bands, or swinging immense dumb¬ 
bells, and wielding huge Indian clubs, is as improper, 
as to see dogs drawing loaded carts—at once painful and 
against nature. 

On the contrary, the latter is an adjunct to dancing, 
renders the body lithe, supple, graceful and free. 

Swimming is a healthy exercise, very much neglected, 
especially by girls, and mainly I imagine, on account of 
the difficulty in getting to and from the place of bathing 
with proper regard to the exegencies of dress. It is one of 
the most useful of the muscular accomplishments. Girls 
should not neglect an opportunity for perfecting themselves 
in that, which may perhaps in some after period, save their 
own lives and perhaps that of others. With boys igno¬ 
rance of it, is quite inexcusable, and is an evidence, so far 
as it goes, of a want of manliness. 

WALKING 

Although the most common of all the forms of exercise, 
should not, in a chapter like this, be passed by in neglect. 
Possibly because it is so common, there is not enough 
thought about it. Once in a while we have some indefati¬ 
gable “ walkists,” as they have been styled, who astonish 
the world by their feats of endurance and rapidity, and 
following this excitement, there are temporary spirts of 
walking among the young men, but they soon die away. 

So degenerate is the present age, that a boy is considered 
by his mother as most remarkable, who walks to and 
from his school, or his business, a distance of four or six 
miles a day, and too many prefer the fatigue of hanging on 


WOMEN IN FETTERS. 


175 


to the straps of an over-crowded car, and standing in the 
confined air, made by the breath of forty persons, to a 
brisk walk. 

In the country it is even worse. I have scarcely known 
a man who thinks of walking any distance over a quarter 
of a mile, but will go almost as great a distance to get up 
his horse. Prolonged walks, especially by students in 
their vacations, ought to be more common than it is. 

The tourists who are seen walking in the Scotch High¬ 
lands and the Swiss mountains are very numerous, but in 
our White mountains, or up the beautiful banks of the 
Hudson and Connecticut, they are scarcely known. Health, 
pleasure,—the intimate knowledge of the peculiarities of a 
country, which can only be known by the opportunities 
afforded by slow observation, and attendant rests on 
peculiarity attractive localities—all these recommend pedes- 
trianism as a most delightful and appropriate method of 
utilizing the vacations, and the pleasant weather of the 
summer and fall seasons. 

But for girls walking in any extended manner is simply 
impossible. The sex, have had the inconsistency, while 
.. claiming to emancipate themselves from past slaveries, yet 
to cling to their fetters. Since time immemorial, they 
have endeavored to render themselves physically incapable 
of any real, laborious undertakings. Setting aside the 
restraints of petticoats, which sadly interfere with locomo¬ 
tion, even when there is no wind to act on these out-streached 
sails, they are always incapable of raising their hands to the 
top of their head, because the sleeve begins too low down 
on the arm. They cannot take any number of prolonged 
breaths, from the tightness of the garment around then- 
waists, and compressing their chests. 

But now they have rendered themselves incapable of 
walking. While she laughs at the absurdities of the 


176 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


Chinese ladies, who make their feet little, by persistent 
compression from birth ; the modern, fashionable lady by 
high heels, prevents herself from taking anything like a 
good long stretch, even on the best of sidewalks. The 
little, rickety heel enters into every crack, turns on every 
petty elevation, and even without these drawbacks against 
locomotion, it drives the foot so constantly down into the 
shoe, as to bind the instep, compresses the toes, and soon 
covers the feet with corns and bunions. Without these, 
the fact that the foot never touches the ground flatly, is 
fatal to pedestrianism, and woman will be a fettered slave 
until some new fashion shall come to take the sex off from 
the stilts, upon which they are now mounted. 

There would be some compensation, if there was a 
possibility of a girl moving gracefully, thus shod, but 
when her every effort is employed, in keeping from pitch¬ 
ing on to her nose, and to avoid, what appears to be, her 
inevitable destiny to tumble over, all hope of seeing grace 
is departed. 

There is an idea quite prevalent, that walking early in 
the morning, and riding at the same time, before breakfast, 
is beneficial to the health. I think that no one, who has 
ever tried them for any length of time, can be found, who will 
speak very highly of the pleasure derived from it. It is 
not to be justified by any theory of a sanitary character. 
If one cannot find any other time to give to this exercise, 
perhaps the early, damp morning, which offers such a 
chilling change to the warmth of the bed, may be better 
than not to exercise at all. Certainly however, he will 
take such exercise any where in this vicinity (New York,) 
at the risk of an attack of fever and ague. It would be 
almost sure to seize him, if he should w T alk for a month in 
our beautiful Central Park, at this inclement hour of the 
morning. 


TRITE TRUTHS. 


177 


Then the idea of walking, fasting, is nnsustained by 
any theory of utility, while practically, it will be found 
not only disagreeable, but unhealthy. A robust, vigorous 
person, may perhaps be able to take such exercise with 
impunity, and such will not find it requisite, but most will 
discover, that they get headache, nausea, and general exces¬ 
sive fatigue, from such unadvised and injudicious exercise. 
If, however, such exercise is necessary, let the person 
fortify himself with a very moderate meal—a cup of coffee, 
and a crust of bread may be all that is necessary, but 
something should be taken “ to stay the stomach.” 

PLEASANT THOUGHTS BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH. 

The amusements referred to thus far, are mainly considered 
in regard to their connection with exercise, as thereby 
conducing to the physical condition of the body. Perhaps 
all might not at first glance agree with me, in the idea that 
pleasant thoughts, agreeable methods of passing time 
pleasantly, are likewise beneficial to the health. Still the 
fact is none the less so. A pleasant face, a happy house¬ 
hold, and a cheerful spirit, conduce most surely to good 
digestion. A worry of mind destroys the appetite. Sorrow* 
by destroying the powers of nutrition, the capacity of 
assimilating food, weakens the system, induces disease, and 
ultimately destroys life. The converse is just as true, for 
a happy home makes a healthy one. Amusements, are 
something which is not business, care, toil, and are abso¬ 
lutely necessary for health. 

Unquestionably, the highest form of amusement comes 
from books, or reading in general. There is a wondrous 
change in the world in this respect, within the last half 
century. It is wonderful, to think of the mass of reading 
matter which goes through the mails and express compan¬ 
ies, and pervades every corner of the world. There is a 
8 * 


178 


OUR CHILDREN. 


question to-day not before known, which is, “ what shall 
children read?” 

Formerly, they read everything they could get hold of; 
the libraries were small, the newspapers were small, they 
contained the baldest statement of the news of the day. 
There were but few works of fiction, and those written 
with no moral purpose. To-day these works are the 
vehicles through which the greatest truths of the world 
are disseminated. Prime Ministers write the novels, which 
cause revolutions and civil wars. 


CHAPTER XII. 

WHAT SHALL CHILDREN READ? 


A X examination into the manner in which the men and 
woman of different ages have employed their time, 
is a history of the mental, moral, and physical growth of 
the world. At some periods, labor, and its consequent 
rest, consumed the entire time. This labor in different 
climes and nations was various ; in some it was in hunting, 
in others, in constant war, and predatory excursions, in 
others, in perhaps even more debasing occupations, because 
calling for less intellectual development, of husbandry. 

But a great change has come in with the 19th century, 
and still greater is before us. Labor—which in the warlike 
tribes and Homadic, hunting people was shared in by all 
alike, the highest being elevated to chieftainship, because 
the most laborious labor—gradually became the lot of the 
poorer in intellectual capacity, and who thus were speedily 
poorer in the possession of that, which constituted the 
peculiar wealth of each people. 

Labor then kept a constant, and unrelenting hold on a 
very large class of the community. Amusements were so 
unfrequent as scarcely to be worth the mention, and con¬ 
sisted mainly in attendance upon the festivals of religion, 
or in witnessing the solemn pageants attending the 
occasional rejoicings, or lamentations of their rulers and 
superior classes. 

At the present time, the great tendency of the civilized 
portion of the world, is to diminish the hours of work. 


180 


O UR CHILDREN. 


The necessities of life are obtained with a far less expen¬ 
diture of physical energy than ever before. Steam, in the 
fields, at the anvil, and the loom, have materially abridged 
man’s toil, and with the sewing machine, puts clothing of 
better quality and fabrication than was formerly deemed 
possible, upon the backs of the richest and poorest, at a 
cost of money, labor, or time once scarcely imagined. 

Throughout Christendom, comes the cry for a diminution 
of the hours of labor. He who once worked from sun to sun, 
has gradually diminished his hours to twelve, ten, and 
now is vehemently demanding another shrinking to eight. 

If then, we ask what is the great occupation of the 
people of this country, the men, women, and children, 
collectively, we cannot say work. The merchant’s hours 
are from 10 a. m. to 3 p. m. His clerk’s are from 9 a. m. to 4 
or 5 p. m., with increasing holidays, and closed doors on 
Saturday afternoons. Servants work indeed nominally as 
before, but their time remains the same; but the various 
appliances of modern housekeeping has diminished their 
labors most seriously. Hone but doctors find their work 
never done. They are hitched to a bell wire, and like a 
Jumping Jack, must work when the string is pulled. 

Labor then is not the grand occupation which occupies 
the world at the present day. 

Possibly, the antithesis to toil is pleasure, and again it 
is possible, that pleasure of the most unalloyed and general 
description is found in reading. Most assuredly it is 
known, that more time is now employed in reading in this 
country than in any other way. 

It is the occupation or amusement of every age and 
every class. Newspapers are printed, like the Boys and 
Girls Paper by Frank Leslie, for children; and papers, 
magazines, novels, and histories, for every culture, of every 
age and class. Newspapers of every grade and price, 


WHAT SHALL BE READ. 


181 


for religions and irreligious, for saints and sinners, in small 
type for the .young, and large pica for the old, with pictures 
and diagrams, in colors and plain. In short every body 
reads. Vulgarity, dirt, croesus, poverty white, negro, 
Irish, Chinaman—everybody reads. News, games, science 
mirth, religion, scepticism, this world and the next—every 
subject has its exponents and its readers. 

If there is a man interested in any matters, he finds his 
periodical treating upon it. Everybody reads something 
energetically. Only mention to me an interest unrepre¬ 
sented in typedom, and I will ensure an exponent before 
a week elapses. 

The fact, that this era of general reading is coincident 
with the highest civilization to which the world has ever 
attained, will render any lengthened argument to prove 
its utility unneccessary, and a more useful question than 
what shall we read ourselves, is what permit our children 
to read ? 

The empty stomach requires diluted food. The milk 
which forms the earliest condiment, which kindly nature 
affords for our first needs, is mainly water, and it should be 
remembered too, that this is not allowed to be obtained 
without some exertion. No matter how weak or young, 
the babe must exercise some volition, and put forth some 
energy, or starve. 

Let this great fact be remembered when we inquire, 
with what intellectual food, to feed our infant’s mind, that 
“ an empty stomach requires diluted food.” I have known 
a healthy Jew after his annual fast of twenty-four hour’s 
complete abstinence from even a drop of any fluid, not 
even water, or a crumb of bread—I have known him to 
die, from eating hard-boiled eggs and bread. 

The young mind is to be fed on Mother Goose’s melodies 
—not aphorisms, and Tupperism, and Essays on Man. 


182 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Their food is French soups, viz,—a great deal of taste with 
very little substance, a gallon of water, a chicken’s wing, a 
few grains of rice, an onion, and plenty of pepper and salt. 
—No danger of a surfeit, and subsequent disgust. 

What shall children read ? Anything that they will. 
Fairy tales, travels—Ross and Parry arid Kane, in the 
North Pole, De Chaillu and Riley in Africa—Facts are 
always preferred to fiction, when the fact is not too much 
for the young mind. “ Is it true is the great question 
of the youth. But the diversions of Gulliver, for children 
do not see its satire, and Sinbad, and Peter Wilkins, and 
Robinson Crusoe, and The Swiss Family Robinson, and 
Arabian Nights Entertainments, are most digestible to the 
youngest intellectual stomach. 

The true way is to fill the mind with this succulent 
material, till it outgrows this style. But before this is 
done, the habit of reading is formed, and the child will 
never willingly give up the book. Reading is ever after, a 
necessity, it has become a habit like whisky drinking, and 
the use of tobacco. 

The next step is still onward, works of fiction, romances, 
and love tales, soon claim the growing taste. The girls 
like the misteries of Udolpho and Belinda, and Miss Edge¬ 
worth’s inimitable novelettes, and the boys crawl higher 
from Mayne Reid’s extravaganzas, to Ivanhoe, and Break- 
spear, and Thaddeus of Warsaw, and soon the whole 
plenitude of Dumas’ unsurpassed plots, and imaginations, 
and the series of thrilling romances, and tales of the times, 
delight and enthral the opening mind. 

And parents look aghast, and are fearful of the effects 
of this indiscriminate reading, and of novel reading at all. 
They forget that the novel of to-day is a portrayal of life, 
of passions as they exist; the world shows them, that 
these works are daguerreotypes of actual life, into which 


READ ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. 183 

the child will soon enter, and of which it should learn, 
that being fore-warned it may be fore-armed. 

The mother forgets that the great lessons of the day, are 
taught through these means; that Beecher, and William 
Ware, and others, preached by means of the modern novel; 
that the reforms of anti-slavery, temperance, anti-rentism, 
and politics of every description, religious creeds of every 
kind, are all, most ably vindicated and sustained, by these 
methods of spreading their tenets broad-cast. 

Sargent’s Temperance Tales were most powerful agents 
in the New England reform of a two score years ago, and 
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the opening wedge, in the eman¬ 
cipation of the slave. 

The great idea is to form the habit of reading, to teach 
the young mind to seek for its pleasure, as well as its 
strength, in books. If there is a mind worth ennobling, or 
caring for, books will develop it. The assistance of a 
parent’s or superior knowledge, to aid in its training, is not 
to be overlooked. The child reading any w T ork—the 
simplest, with any encouragement—will ask questions as 
to the meaning of a word, the understanding of a paragraph. 
The true teacher directs to the sources of knowledge, not 
by crossly saying, “ Look it out in the Dictionary,” but by 
interesting still more the enquiring youth in the subject. 
If there can be any doubtful or double meaning, a brief 
mention of the fact, with an apparent personal interest, 
will do much to encourage the aspirant to knowledge. 

More particularly should the young be taught to read in 
connection with their employment. This is more practi¬ 
cable than is supposed, and of inestimable benefit. The 
ignorance of many merchants, respecting the very articles 
that they have sold for a whole life time, is astonishing and 
often, not a little mortifying. We find grocers, w r ho 
scarcely know the countries from whence comes their 


184 


OUR CHILDREN. 


merchandize, far less, to know anything of the form, char¬ 
acter, appearance or shape of the trees that produce the 
teas, coffees, nutmegs, allspice &c., that they daily handle. 

Druggists are compelled to know the chemical compo¬ 
nents of their drugs, but the paint dealers may sell ultra- 
marine, with utter ignorance that it is a silicate of alumina, 
and the jeweller generally does not know that an ordinary 
ruby, or sapphire, differing so greatly in hardness and 
value from the oriental gem, is from its being, a different 
chemical formation. So we might go through all the 
trades, and find food for thought, and study for the young 
mind, in the very direction of the business of his life. 

Such inquiries as these should be stimulated by the 
parent as he sends his son into the w T orld, so that wdien he 
has arrived at a period of life, when he may himself assume 
the conduct of the business, he may be fully informed 
respecting it. Then, no long-ago tried and discarded idea, 
revamped and modernized may be put forward, as a new 
patent, to waste his time and money. 

Nor is this kind of reading for boys alone. Women of 
the coming era, are expected to be in advance of those of 
the past days. This cannot be without study—or studious 
reading. She should read carefully on every elevating 
theme. Let her New Year’s presents for the nonce, be in 
this direction. Find out how your coral ear-rings are 
made, how obtained; learn what is the composition of the 
bronze statuette which your uncle gave you, read about 
their antiquity, endurance, and why they are esteemed 
valuable. 

Any knowledge that is complete, will be found most 
agreeable. If you think you have exhausted the subject, 
that you know all that is known upon it, you will find an 
interior satisfaction far surpassing in intensity, as well as 
duration, the ephemeral pleasure, derived from the fictitious 
Emiles and tears of a sensation novel. 


READING A TRUE JOY. 


185 


Heading is the key to the arcana of science. Seek 
knowledge, for in it, is the only true happiness of this life. 
With the head full, the belly may be empty, the body 
naked, yet joy fills the heart and satisfaction is depicted 
on the countenance. The world looks at this one, and that, 
with astonishment, and he, with treasures that cannot be 
stolen, pities the mere man of money. Heading brings 
forgetfulness of ills, prevents envyings, ennobles mankind 
and leads to the only true communion that mortals may have 
with the great Author of all. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


HOME AMUSEMENTS. 

T HE next amusement of an in-door character, although 
to some extent capable of being practised in the open 
air, is that derived from 

MUSIC. 

For many years there was a stigma attached to musicians 
of every class and character, unless it was to the singing 
master, whose efforts were directed solely to teaching psalm¬ 
ody and acting as chorister in church. A violin was denom¬ 
inated a fiddle, and it was deemed sacriligous to introduce it 
into a church edifice, although the bass-viol and double-bass, 
the larger sizes of the same instrument, seemed to have a 
natural dwelling place in the church choirs. 

To-day, the piano is in almost every house in the country, 
in the magnificent palaces of our great cities, and in the 
log cabins of the undeveloped West. The influence of 
music is 'ever recognized as one of the most ameliorating, 
and elevating, and we find it introduced into our school- 
houses, where it is used to assist in the teaching of the 
poorest scholar, who thereby acquires the rudiments of mu¬ 
sic, and all classes of the community are thus brought under 
its refining influences. 

Still, there is a proper limitation even to this humanizing 
art. It is not advisable for every one to give much time 
to the cultivation of what, to them, would be a useless 
matter, one to which they have no natural affinity. Those 
children who evince a decided taste for music, and develop 


PIANO PLAYING. 


187 


extraordinary capacities, should be permitted to develop 
these tendencies ; but if not, they should not be forced to 
engage in a persistent, serious, and profound study, to attain 
to any degree of excellence, or the capacity of pleasing 
themselves or others. 

Till very recently, it has been the custom only for girls 
to practice the piano—the King of all instruments—and 
unquestionably, the best instrument for general use. A 
wiser judgment is now commencing to be seen, and boys 
evincing marked musical taste, are early put to the piano, 
for a short period daily. Generally the time is not less 
than one hour a-day—so long that it tires young boys, who 
would greatly prefer their play, in the street with others, 
to this self isolation. If but a quarter of an hour was en¬ 
forced for the early years, and this diligently employed, 
sufficient would be effected to see how great talent the child 
exhibited, before compelling him to waste time in striving 
after something that his nature did not give him the power 
to satisfactorily attain. 

I said it was desirable to encourage boys to learn the 
piano etc., and for the reason of its absorbing character, its 
refining influences, and its eminently social and domestic 
nature. Boys fond of music, are willing to spend their leis¬ 
ure hours, around the family piano. Their evenings are 
always at concerts, at the opera, or among musical friends 
—and thus in good company. Boys who spend their even¬ 
ings at home, are never very bad. 

I would not, in this connection, lay much stress upon 
the benefits to the health of those who are devoted to mu¬ 
sic. But it is certainly true, that the practice of singing, 
by developing the lungs, does much to strengthen the 
pulmonary apparatus, expand the chest, and gives room 
for the full play of these vital organs. 

But the great benefits to health are more negative than 


188 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


positive, by keeping the youth, through its facinating in¬ 
fluences, away from more gross and exhausting pursuits. 
Nothing that I know of, has more interest to youth, than 
glee clubs, and singing evenings set apart, for choral union. 
The Germans are to be imitated in this respect, and their 
general ideas of social life need but little modification to 
adapt them to our habits of living, to be extremely benefi¬ 
cial to the social element of our natures. 

GAMES. 

Another form of family amusement within doors, is to 
be found in various games, many of which, such as blind- 
man’s* buff, and like noisy and boisterous sports, are not fit for 
a carefully furnished, modern drawing-room, and moreover 
require a large number to play it. Most children have 
some lessons to learn, and an hour or two can be well de¬ 
voted to charades, story-telling, to checkers, backgammon^ 
chess, and the like. 

Card-playing has met with more objections, but I think, 
very unfounded ones. The following opinions I published 
in the public press, some year or two ago, and met with 
considerable approval from the wise and discerning, whose 
judgments I have had reason to esteem. I will venture 
to copy it in this connection, as probably I should not be 
able to express my ideas any better, by a second attempt. 

CARD-PLAYING. 

Puritanism had many excellences, which have been fully 
recognized ; it had also many defects, which are only be¬ 
ginning to be acknowledged, if long since recognized by 
those not blinded by prejudice. Cromwell, and his ad¬ 
herents and successors, were men of little culture—rude, 
bigoted. They embraced an essential principle of the 
Catholic Church, one of its most erroneous ones, and which 


ASCETICISM OBSOLETE\ 


189 


has done more than any other to put back the advancement 
of civilization and intelligence—to narrow the mind, and 
belittle the hearts of mankind. This principle was, that 
this world was a vale of tears—the abode of a race of sin¬ 
ners, whose whole duty was to deplore the fact of their 
existence; to shut their eyes to the beauties, charms, and 
joys of this world; to eat and drink with sour countenances; 
and, in fine, to refuse to acknowledge, in any practical way, 
the goodness and love of God. True, the Puritan did not 
carry his faith quite so far into practice as did his teacher, 
the Church. They were a foe to laziness and sloth, and 
they encouraged no cloisters and nunneries, with their 
attendent horde of lazy, dirty, gluttonous inmates. Labor 
they esteemed better than beggary, and psalm-singing, and 
fighting; prayers and hard work, were considered better 
mixtures for their spiritual health, than orisons and wine- 
bibbing, genuflexions and sloth, 

Monkish asceticism and Puritanic austerities have had 
their day. Ere long, the last monastery and convent will 
cease to exist; and shortly after, we shall also see disappear 
the last trace of that long-descended Puritan and Ante-Pu¬ 
ritan idea, that we are born into this world to feed on the 
bitters and the thorns, to see only tie clouds, and to de¬ 
light only in the dust and storms. Instead of these doc¬ 
trines, repugnant alike to our inmost natures, and any 
reasonable or revealed idea of the Great Creator, we shall 
acknowledge that this world is beautiful exceedingly—full 
of materials of happiness, which it is alike our duty as our 
delight to embrace. We may well go back to our school¬ 
days, and our old copy-books, and write out again, in a full, 
round hand, the real doctrine of life—our real duty respect¬ 
ing this world, and all that is in it— “IJse, but not 
abuse.” 

It is obligatory upon man, to use the world and every 


190 


OUR CHILDREN. 


thing in it. Sin consists in excess. He does not act 
correctly, from any high principle, or in conformity with 
the laws of health, who lays down a prohibitory law against 
the use of stimulants, while he gives unlimited license to 
his appetite for eating. Indeed, on the score of health 
alone, there is no question but excess in eating throughout 
the world, produces more illness than excess in drinking, 
even if the occasional effects of the latter, are apparently 
more surely traceable, and more demonstrative than the 
results of the former. As a logical sequence of the views 
formerly held, the Catholic devotee withdrew from the 
world, and endeavored by self-imposed tortures, to make 
himself think this world was a wmrld of misery, and to look 
forward with hope, to a deliverance from it by death; and 
the Protestant sedulously avoided every action or employ¬ 
ment, the result of which was pleasurable. He had few 
feast days, but many fasts, few pleasures, and many priva¬ 
tions. 

The Puritan eruption brought employment for the minds 
of the men. Each had a share in the State ; each had a 
duty in the Church. The caucus and the conventicle 
occupied all their leisure, and the jollities of the cavalier 
were displaced by the triste observances of ghostly 
ordinances. 

Sad days were these for the youth. Laughter was an 
abhorrence, and sports and games were almost penal offenses. 
Those engaged in hard labor during the day, found indeed, 
all the forgetful pleasure they desired; but for those of a 
higher class, the time must have past tediously. The 
necessity of amusement, the absolute demand of relaxation, 
never entered into the minds of our grim progenitors. 
To-day, however, such teaching is unnecessary. The 
changed habits of life, require changed occupations and 
amusements corresponding thereto. More particularly do 


MAKE HOME ATTRACTIVE. 


191 


we need agreeable occupation for the long winter evenings. 
u Up with the lark, and with the lark to bed,” is obsolete. 
Gas and comfortable homes, render the evening the most 
agreeable portion of the day, and the habits of society are 
conformable. Whether the memory of this transatlantic 
bird has anything to do with it or not, may be a question, 
but some of our youth are very fond of employing these 
hours to “ go on a larkand this is what we deprecate, 
and desire to obviate. 

To make home attractive, to keep the young not under 
jurisdiction, so much as under agreeable, unperceived ob¬ 
servation, is the great duty of parents. Pleasant evening 
amusement is the great desideratum. The piano does a 
world of good for the morals of the community, around 
which all ages can gather. Cards are another source of 
unfailing amusement. It is hard to say why there is such 
opposition to this eminently social, domestic amusement. 
one, in which the most pious and worthy Christians, clergy 
and laity, bishops and priests of all grades, in the Roman 
Catholic and Episcopal, and various other denominations, 
unite. Is it because there are gamblers ? Gambling with 
cards is not worse than gambling with gold, or Erie, or 
flour. Allowing, then, if you please, that each and all are 
wrong theoretically, there is no greater truth than that all 
diseases are diminished in virulency, by being introduced 
into the system prepared for the purpose. Thus, inocula¬ 
tion of smallpox diminished by half its virulency, and was 
universally adopted, till vaccination, or the substitution of 
another less dangerous disease, was discovered. R"ow, 
when a less objectionable, and equally engrossing amuse¬ 
ment is instituted for cards, then we will readily agree to 
be vaccinated. Till then, we think youth should be inoc¬ 
ulated with Hoyle. 

Cards are certainly, to nearly all, the most engrossing 


192 


OUR CHILDREN. 


of amusements. If tlie youth is encouraged in card-playing 
in his younger days, not only he is kept at home, happily 
and satisfactorily employing his hours of relaxation in the 
family circle, but he is fitted for his after experience in the 
social circles of the world. You may recognize, in the 
gambling establishments of our great cities, the neophite 
from the young man, who from youth has found cards a 
frequent pastime in his own home. While the latter enters 
mildly, if at all, into the excitements of faro, rouge et noir , 
at Chamberlain’s or Baden-Baden, the former, not being 
acclimated in his youth, rushes impetuously, luckily if not 
ruinously, into the fascinations of the sport. Nine times 
out of ten, the ruined at these famed gaming-tables, are 
those who, too late, were initiated into the excitements of 
cards. Had he played vingt-et-un for sugar-plums, as a 
child, and cribbage for penny points with his father or 
mother, he would have harmlessly passed through this 
form of intellectual measles, which is always lightest when 
taken and borne with in youth. 

What is more conducive to real family happiness and 
morals, than the family whist-table ? Here the gray-haired 
grandfather, and the youngest—three generations—may 
meet in amusement, as they can nowhere else. And here 
is a reason for learning games at cards, not often, perhaps, 
adduced, yet, I think, a good one, There is nothing that 
the old man desires so much as some method of agreeably 
passing his evenings. Generally, his advanced age, and 
feeble health, forbids his seeking occupation abroad. The 
state of his eyes very frequently forbids reading by gaslight. 
The faculty of playing cards is one of the special boons of 
Providence for the old. I have personally noted so many 
instances of the happiness thus derived from this interesting 
occupation, that I deem it worthy of consideration, and 
think it eminently desirable for the young to learn at least, 


CARD-PLA YING A T HOME 1 


193 


some of tlie leading games, as a resource against the ennui 
of declining years—one that remains with impaired vision, 
utter deafness, semi-paralysis, gout, and, indeed, many of 
those afflictions which compel one to the prison of a house 
or a chamber. Darby and Joan delight themselves thus, 
forgetting their rheumatic incapacities, and other infirm¬ 
ities. 

Cards assuage the monotony of a sickroom, the fatigue 
of travel by sea and land, the horrors of any Libby Prison, 
and, it is reported, of convent life. Invented at a very 
early period, they have soothed the passions, and calmed 
the minds of the greatest men of earth, and solaced the 
miseries of the poorest, and, perhaps, have been the least 
objectionable employment of the most vicious and depraved. 
Never have they attained to such universal and beneficent 
usage as at present. They teach the government of the 
temper, the uncertainties of fortune, the instabilities of 
to-day, personal reticence, impassibility, and foresight, and 
judgment, as well as the humbler lessons of arithmetic and 
calculation. A finished card-player is of necessity gentle¬ 
manly in deportment, considerate in his demeanor toward 
others, and under proper self-control. The benefits deriv¬ 
able, are far beyond the evils deducible, a proper estimate 
of which will lead to an even greater extension of card¬ 
playing among us. 

The following response from a lady, will show how the 
article pleased one person. 

CARD-PLAYING. 

To the Editor of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated News-paper; 

Dear Sir—I thank you, and through you Doctor Gardner, 
for the views expressed respecting home amusements, es¬ 
pecially referring to cards. I am but recently converted 
to the belief that their injuriousness is a bugbear, and more 
9 


194 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


owing to attendant circumstances, than to anything inherent 
to them. But I proposed not to give you a corroborative 
dissertation, but an anecdote. 

I must premise that I am the mother of a family of three 
boys, whose bringing up in a proper manner has been a 
source of great solicitude. I have striven to keep them 
under my personal observation, as much as possible; their 
evenings have been spent very much at home, and they 
were in the habit of retiring always by ten o’clock. 

They have now attained to considerable age—the young¬ 
est being eleven years old. I had for some time noticed 
that they were, with increasing years, becoming more 
docile and obedient. I had merely to hint that “ it is ten 
o’clock, boys,” when, without a w'ord—no teasing “ to just 
finish this one story,” or “ to get to the end of the chap, 
ter,”—they shut up their books with alacrity, and, with 
cheerful jokes, marched olf to bed. I now remember once 
Tom said to Charley: “ I wouldn’t advise you to read 
about Captain Kidd, just before going to bed, for you’ll 
think of having your ‘ cut-tliroat,’ before morning.” 
Charley, and indeed all, seemed to see some remarkable 
joke in this remark, which was not then apparent to me. 

One evening, a few weeks ago, I had occasion to go up. 
stairs on some unusual errand, which I did very rarely 
before retiring, and was thus compelled to notice some un. 
wonted conversation from the boys’ room. “ That’s the 
left bower! ” “ I order it! ” I knew not what those ex¬ 
pressions meant, but soon, “ Play the ace! ” “ Heart leads! ” 
let me into the secret that my boys were surreptiously 
playing cards. I went down, without betraying any con¬ 
sciousness of my presence. 

The next day I bought a pack of cards, and when eve¬ 
ning came, I said: “ Boys, our evenings are too dull— 
■\yhat shall we do to amuse ourselves? I have bought some 


DANCING CONSIDERED. 


195 


cards to-day. I will try to teacli you; but I have almost 
forgotten, for I have not played since I was a girl.” John, 
soon recovering from his astonishment, says: “ Ma, I have 
seen the boys at Sharon, last summer, play euchre, and I 
guess we can manage that.” It would seem astonishing 
how soon the boys caught the idea, for but very little in¬ 
struction seemed necessary. We played till a little after 
ten, and the boys went to bed about the usual time. Do 
you think it curious in me, that I went up-stairs after them, 
to see that they actually went to bed without any delay ? 

The next night, I again proposed a game of Euchre, 
and every night we had it for about three weeks, till I 
saw that they were gradually wearying of it; and finally, 
Tom says: “ Good gracious, ma! don’t play to-night; I 
get tired of playing cards every night. I want to read a 
little.” Since that time, we have an occasional game of 
Euchre or Whist, but there are no more “ stolen joys,” 
and robbing the hours of rest. 

I have now little fear that my boys will be led away by 
cards. Their greatest attraction seems to have come to 
them from its novelty, and the fascination arising from the 
surreptious method of obtaining it. I have drawn the 
fangs from the serpent, and he is harmless. 

Very sincerely, 

A Mother. 


dancing. 

At the present day, none but bigots and ascetics are 
found, who object to dancing. Indeed, no one who looks 
at the natnre of man can object to it, for it seems implant¬ 
ed in his very being. It seems impossible for one to fully 
express the emotions which fill his breast at certain times, 
without leaping for joy; and dancing is but the regulated 
movement of this joyous emotion. 


196 


OUR CHILDREN. 


At the present day, pantomimic methods of expression 
are less common with the more cultivated, and less sensa¬ 
tional people of the world. It is considered polite to 
evince a certain apathy on all occasions. Fashion says we 
must hear the delicious strains of harmony, with no sign 
of its effects upon us; yet, the boys in the pit will stamp 
in rythm, with any popular march, or measured air. 

We must speak in a calm, even voice, with immovable 
countenance; yet the excitable Latin race add the varied 
movements of the face, and the ready gesture of limb and 
hand, and the free action of the supple frame, to enforce 
the verbally expressed idea; and we ourselves, when we 
address any large assembly, and strive to persuade others 
to our ideas, call upon all the aids of gesticulation to ex¬ 
press an intensity of feeling, which words were incapable 
of enunciating. 

Joy cannot be expressed by simple language, and nature 
goes out in leaping, swingingof the arms, to convey, through 
the eye, a depth of feeling which the current of sound 
cannot carry through the one channel of the ear. King 
David “ danced before the Lord,” to evince, by all demon¬ 
strable means, the intensity of his emotion. It is not to 
be doubted that he also sang. 

Even to-day, while perusing this chapter, comes the 
news of the proclamation of a republic in France. The 
tumultuous crowd, joyous at a freedom from tyrannical 
rule, are rushing through the streets, singing the Marseil¬ 
laise, and impotent to declare, with such a desired fullness 
ol expression as they would like, their happy emotions, 
proceed to the beautiful palace of the Tuileries. This 
dwelling of so many glorious monarclis, this great archi¬ 
tectural grace of France, is not deemed too good or valu¬ 
able, to be sacrificed as a testimonial bonfire, to the delight 
at their delivery, into the supposed purity of a free gov¬ 
ernment. 


DANCING A NATURAL INSTINCT. 


197 


In tliis moment of delirium, when nature is struggling 
for expression, a half-crazy pair start a can-can in the gor¬ 
geous salon of the dethroned emperor. At last, .an ex¬ 
pression is found for the pent-up enthusiasm, and the 
crowd ready for anything, are turned by this straw, and 
in quiet, and without arson or bloodshed, the republic is 
proclaimed.* 

This bodily expression of intense joyous feeling, the 
resort of a king and subjects in seasons of great excite¬ 
ment, which certain sects of rude religionists have conse¬ 
crated to worship, as did heathen tribes centuries ago, this 
rythmic expression of delight and gladness finds a welcome 
among all the young happy hearts in our homes, and the 
little gatherings of kindred and friends. Dancing is the 
fitting expression of joyous delight. The lamb gambols 
on the green lawn, the horse curvets, and prances, and cara¬ 
coles under the direction of his rider, and in accordance 
with his own happy feelings. The exuberance of animal 
excitement thus finds its vent in motion. The animal in 
man, has its same surplusage and necessities, but in more 
measured, and regulated steps demonstrates it. 

The favorable light in which we view dancing, does not 
bind us to approve of everything connected with its cele¬ 
bration. The indiscriminate mingling of the sexes, the 
pure with the vile, the immodest and sensuous positions, 
the indelicate steps and movements, the improprieties of 
dress, the improper hours, the non-essential and unhealthy 
adjuncts of eating and drinking are censurable. Baccha¬ 
nal orgies, and indecorum are no more associated with it, 
than the rowdyism often seen at a fair or a camp meeting, 
with the beneficent intent of these assemblies. Where 
there is excitement, crowds and imperfect regulation, there 

* This was written before the horrors of the Communist revolution, but 

the fact, and the deduced argument are true, although no second happy in¬ 
spiration came to save the august pile from the incendiary s fnry. 



198 


OUR CHILDREN. 


is apt to be some excess. Perfection is no more to be 
seen in one walk of life than another. 

The evils above referred to are not, however, necessities 
of, nor do they pertain exclusively to gatherings where 
dancing is a primal element. They are evils of society. 

As matters of health, evening parties are not defensible. 
There is a certain risk to the health, to every one that 
attends them. The risk from exposure, for both men and 
women,—who are arrayed according to the etiquette of 
dress attire—have marked change in their clothing, render¬ 
ing them more liable to take cold. The evening supper, 
at an unaccustomed hour, formed of materials that tempt 
the palate, and induce to over-indulgence, the lateness of 
the hour, and its infringement on the usual hours of sleep 
and rest, the wonted excitement (especially to the young,) 
acting not only for the time, but long before, in anticipa¬ 
tion of the evening pleasure,—all these may not be con 
sidered as healthy. Still, they give a fillip to life, they 
start the blood from its usual jog-trot flow, and thus have 
some compensations. 

More than that, knowing all this, we take the risk. The 
boy takes a risk when he climbs to the topmost branch for 
a desired red apple; when he mounts his pet colt for the 
first time. The question arises—is the game worthy of 
this risk? Fortunately for youth, such calculation comes 
later in life. I, for one, should be very unwilling to limit 
the pleasures of youth to my judgment of their value. 

And this reminds me, that all that I have laid out for 
myself to do, is to consider dancing as a matter of health. 
It is not easy to consider it, in its simplicity, apart from its 
excitations, its exposures, the late hours, suppers, et id 
omne genus. I will however, say nothing further on 
these heads. 

Dancing, therefore, considered as a mere rythmic, hop- 


OBJECTIONABLE PERIODS FOR DANCING. 199 


ping up and down, posturing, and balancing, unquestion¬ 
ably develops the muscular system of the back, loins, and 
legs; it is an often severe exercise, expanding the lungs? 
stirring the blood vigorously, and pleasantly exciting the 
senses. As such, it cannot but be looked upon as a most 
valuable exercise. 

It is, however, open to certain serious objections . It is 
far too vigorous for children, troubled as they often are, 
by any disease of the heart, and rheumatism. Strict care 
should be taken with children frequenting dancing school 
(usually in winter), lest they take cold, or dance too vigo¬ 
rously when suffering from a severe cold upon the lungs. 

A great amount of injury originates with girls by going 
to dancing school, and more especially, to evening parties, 
without reference to the presence of their menstrual 
periods. I desire to dravi parents' most serious attention 
to this fact , as the amount of female diseases which can 
be traced directly to this point, embraces a very large per¬ 
centage of the flood of uterine diseases, so prevalent in this 
country. 

In Europe, girls are kept at boarding schools and semi¬ 
naries, quiet and retired, until eighteen to twenty years 
of age. By this time, their functions have become fully 
established, and they themselves have arrived at years of dis¬ 
cretion. Here on the contrary, foolish mothers launch their 
children on the sea of life at very tender years. They are 
dancing the vigorous muscular dances, exposing themselves 
to every atmospheric change, at a time when nature de¬ 
mands quiet and repose. Mothers themselves, are often 
both ignorant and regardless of the acflial condition of 
their children, when they send them to dancing school, or 
permit them to go to an evening party. 

A great portion of the prevalent female debility is owing 
to the severe exercise of dancing the polka and like dances; 


200 


OUR CHILDREN. 


and thus violently shaking down the internal viscera, when 
excited by the ordinary monthly functions, and preventing 
the natural engorgement. Trivial diseases thus commenced) 
ignorantly neglected, aggravated by succeeding impru¬ 
dence, and thirty years of age finds this girl a confirmed 
invalid, and the community wondering “why it is that 
American women fade so quickly,” and “ why it is that 
there is so much more disease now, than there used to be 
when we were young ?” 

My dear madam:—The fruit is picked too young. It 
should hang on the tree ( i . e. go to school and be a child) 
till mature. The four year old colt will not stand the 
pavements of city life; why expect your child to do better 
than any other animal. The factory child, and collier’s 
child, set to work before the gristle is hardened, is puny, 
miserable, and if it lives, is prematurely old and decrepid. 
Your child, hot-house raised, prematurely launched into 
life, stands no better chance of health, clad in silks, 
than does the laborer’s child, clothed in linsey-woolsey. 
The same law of development holds good with each, and 
all. Dancing, therefore, like all saltation, and severe 
muscular exertion, should be limited to such times and 
seasons, as will find the body in perfect health, and when 
the undeveloped functions of ovulation shall not be liable 
to any derangement. 

The moral effect should not be overlooked in this con¬ 
nection. The animal nature cannot be disregarded, and 
the appetite, and passions of some are excessively strong, 
and often dominate the whole nature. The parent cannot 
overlook this fact, and delicacy shall not be allowed to pre¬ 
vent an allusion to it here. The natural instincts cannot 
be supplanted , if restrained and held in check. Especially 
at this period, are they most ungovernable. 

While I would not consider that there is the least dan- 


LIFE'S DUTIES NOT ALL SELFISH. 


201 


ger to virtue from the ordinary comminglings in the measures 
of the mazy dance, there is an unrestrainable excitation of the 
senses from the sight, tone, and contact of the sexes, and the 
imagination is stimulated and re-acting on the body, a warring 
in the elements commences, which is perhaps, borne in 
quiet, perhaps, is immediately manifested in fainting, in 
paroxysms of intense pain, or in the spasms of hysteria, 
flow far better, an avoidance at these periods, to any such 
opportunities for the initiation of dificulties, that may be 
the seeds of life-long disease ! 

SOCIETY AS A MEANS OF RECREATION. 

Society may be considered both, as an amusement 
and an instructor. Let us consider it in the present 
connection, mainly as a means of recreation, although the 
other cannot be wholly ignored. 

Life at the present day, is not one of isolation, and self¬ 
gratification. We must live in the world, and it is alike 
our duty and pleasure, to take our share in it. Children 
should be early taught, that society is a mutual relation, in 
which none are honorably allowed to stand aloof, or to fail 
in contributing their full quota to the general good. We 
often meet with individuals standing apart from the rest— 
wall-flowers, they are called in derision, who, having 
neither superior attractions, or marked attainments, are 
forced into a position neither honorable, or agreeable. 
There are some, who seem to think it derogatory to them¬ 
selves, to bring their quota to the general entertainment ; 
they have consequently, little interest in what is going on 
around them, “ the world forgetting, by the world forgot.” 

It is the duty of parents, at an early age to bring their 
children into society, and insist that modestly, without un¬ 
due assumption, they take their share in its duties. It is 
not like a public place of entertainment, where one is 


202 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


expected to look on in silence, and be amused and so depart, 
but a market place, where one barters his own special gifts 
for entertainment, in exchange for similar talents on the 
part of others. 

The society of cities is far inferior to that of the best 
country towns. The public entertainments furnish such 
varied, interesting, and instructive methods of passing the 
leisure evenings, that the union of friends in social converse 
and gaiety is far less common. Visiting, except among 
relations, is too apt to degenerate into mere formal calls, 
which, with the more infrequent and grand parties, make 
up the most of the social intercourse of ordinary life. 

This state of things does not tend to bring out the bet¬ 
ter side of people. It is most apt to substitute show for 
reality, and fine dress is too apt to pass current in the 
world, while intellectual aesthetic graces are liable to be ig¬ 
nored and neglected. The polished and refined mind is 
set aside for the nimble foot of a dancer of the German, 
and knowing this, it is the duty of parents, while not in any 
manner neglecting the interior of the man, not to despise 
the exterior polish, which is so much prized, and belongs 
to a finished person of the world. 

SELECTION OF COMPANIONS. 

But there is a social intercourse, which it is very desira¬ 
ble to note—the intercourse between the young, the chil¬ 
dren, respecting whom, this work is intended to treat. 
In the want of general social intercourse, the associates 
at the ordinary school, the dancing school, and the Sun¬ 
day school, and church, keep up their acquaintance by calls, 
of which, and those who compose it, the parent is too apt 
to know little or nothing. In this manner, persons of 
little reputation or character, are introduced into the 
family. 


NECESSITIES OF SOCIAL LIFE. 


203 


In the times that are past and never to return, “ every¬ 
body knew everybodythe exact value, mental, bodily 
and pecuniarily, of every person in the town, village, or 
little city w T as known. His or her ability was gauged at 
birth, his every action known, his future prognosticated. 
It was a matter of absolute knowledge, and this son, and 
that daughter w^ere trusted together w T ith impunity, for 
their past, present, and future had been known and recog¬ 
nized. 

Times are different now. Those halycon days of inno¬ 
cence, and purity, will never return again. This country 
is the refuge of the poor and oppressed, the bold and the 
daring, the speculative and hopeful of every land. The 
suffering poor, and the criminal refugee, flock to these 
shores. Locks, and bars, and bolts are needed for our dwel¬ 
lings, our families also require watching, and our young 
sons, and delicate daughters must be guarded against the 
company they keep. 

The past freedom of intercourse is not to be seen at 
present, nor expected in the future. The foreigners, who 
flood our country, have brought with them, from their ef¬ 
fete homes, the vices of a rotten world. Yirtue is but a 
name with them, and honor too often but an imagination. 
The pure and simple manners of our past days, are to them 
but evidences of depravation, and liberty is supposed by 
them to mean license. 

But be the cause as it may be, the days of security are 
past. Parents now, must demand tome positive knowledge 
of the antecedents of the strangers introduced into their 
family circles, and even when thus scrutinized, too much 
licence and opportunity are not to be given. 

He is a bold man, and it might be said a foolish one, that 
allows his daughters to go to concerts, theatres, and public 
places, to ride or walk—as was formerly the case—with one 


204 


OUR CHILDREN. 


not fully recognized, and thoroughly known. The habit of 
allowing a young girl even to walk out alone, for any pur¬ 
pose, with a gentleman not of the family, is highly to be 
reprobated. 

Young girls should not be allowed to receive their young 
gentlemen acquaintances alone. If the parents, or some 
elder person cannot “ chaperon ” the girl, she had far bet¬ 
ter refuse to receive any guest. This should be a standing 
family rule, and is based upon morally hygienic data. 

The freedom of intercourse between the sexes—never 
known out of the United States—is a thing of past days, 
it is impossible in the future. “ Sparking,” and all the 
antecedents, and relationships, are greatly to he modified, 
and the European methods of marriage are to be in the 
main adopted. Long courtships, and the freedom of indis¬ 
criminate visiting, and to stay hours in utter privacy—this 
is a barbarism of the past, which the present disowns. 

Henceforth, the company of the parlor is the company 
of the house, and the mother—or substitute—is to be pres¬ 
ent with all company. “ It is doubtless all right, my dear 
Sir, (we may reason with the stranger) hut we have not 
had the pleasure of your acquaintance but for a very lim¬ 
ited period—and you may depart to-morrow. Reputation 
may he compromised by a foolish act, may he actually lost 
by a bad one.” 

There are two persons in every town, who know as much 
of the secret history of that town, as all the rest together. 
These two people, the clergyman and the physician, will cor¬ 
roborate the above statement, and will agree with me, that 
some restraint, is requisite to the old freedom of intercourse 
between the young of different sexes. The exact form of 
the future courtship is perhaps uncertain. There will be 
modifications of the present manners, hut one thing is cer¬ 
tain, that to-day, some change is imperatively demanded. 


SOME NEW LA WS OF SOCIAL LIFE, 


205 


Girls can no longer go to the theatre alone with an 
acquaintance of yesterday, then to a supper, with wines &c 
at Delmonico’s, and then—for several hours, away from the 
observation of all friends, she, simple, unsophisticated, 
pure; he, young, impassioned, ungoverned, or old, designing 
and a villain—Will parents read this thoughtfully ? 

PRIVATE ENTERTAINMENTS. 

The amusements of private entertainments—parties, 
balls, &c. can have little said of them favorable, in a hygien¬ 
ic point of view, The hours break in upon the ordinary 
time for sleep, turn night into day, and distort the ordinary 
course of events, usual time of taking food and ordinary 
occupations. There is great fatigue from the unaccustom¬ 
ed standing and dancing. The stomach is disordered by 
the rich viands, and the stimulating drinks, and several 
days are necessary, to fully return to the ordinary state of 
health. Occasionally this may be permitted to occur with 
impunity, but a number of such dissipations will markedly 
hollow the cheek, and take away both color and flesh, and 
this is not done without a risk to permanent deterioration 
and injury to the constitution. 

Still, an occasional party is perhaps, beneficial in its re¬ 
sults, for monotony in life, like quietude in water, is apt to 
produce injury by its very stagnation. The mind demands 
exercise, and the excitement of preparation for, and attend¬ 
ance upon such festivities has its benefits, which are not to 
be ignored. There is good in every thing, and every good 
may be abused. These trite proverbs contain the key to 
the wdiole subject. 

There is an oft repeated adage “ that when you are in 
home, you must do as Romans do.” I have great respect 
for those “ old saws ” They are the traditional truths that 
have descended from the wisdom of a past world, and have 


206 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


ruled tlie conduct of the generations that are gone, and 
perhaps will those that are to come. They may cease to 
be true; if so, they will be forgotten, but if they continue 
to be quoted, it will be because their virtue is still extant. 

We, and our children mnst conform to the manners of 
the world around. If not, we shall be singular, and our 
children will be deemed odd. To us, this will be of little 
importance for we are old and have formed certain notions, 
but our children, it will make unhappy. A child is unhap¬ 
py not to go to places, when other children are going; to 
be dressed markedly different from her associates. Minis¬ 
ter’s children are said to be more unruly, than those of the par¬ 
ish generally It is because they are unwisely deprived, re¬ 
strained and consequently dissatisfied. When they get per¬ 
sonal liberty, they revenge themselves by excess. It is cruel¬ 
ty, if one has the means, to send a child to school to be con 
stantly twitted, and taunted by her associates for squalid 
attire. If there is actual poverty causing it, this is not so. 
Children respect poverty, but early learn to despise mean¬ 
ness ; and the fault of the parent is visited on the child. 

Perhaps it may be a wrong custom for children, going to 
parties, to be dressed in party dress, with short sleeves, and 
low necks. I know it is unhealthy. The exposure of so 
much of the person, usually kept covered is risky, but for 
my part, I had far rather risk my child’s health, than to 
risk her happiness, her disposition, her love and respect 
for her parents, by thwarting her desire in this respect. I 
would try a compromise, for although it is a small matter 
for a parent, it is almost life and death to the child—as she 
thinks. Perhaps on a cold night, she would willingly wear 
a high neck, and something extra in the way of ornamenta¬ 
tion, so as to hold her own with her associates. Such pride 
is not improper. She sees little difference between being 
at the head of her class in spelling, or arithmetic, and 
standing at the head of the silk dresses. 


RIDE SOME HOBBY. 


207 


Ministers think that by their preaching, they make these 
things all “ plain to the good sense of their children,” and 
the result is, that the pend ulum swings back to the extreme, 
as soon as it gets a chance—no sensible man likes the hoot- 
ings, and obloquy of his associates—and children are not 
so philosophical as to despise the opinions of their mates. 
A lung fever is in every w r ay cheaper than a heart-fever. 

MAKE YOUR CHILD HAPPY. 

The best way of insuring the physical health of your child 
is to attend to his moral health—make him happy. The best 
way to make him happy is to give him some occupation in 
which he shall take special interest. Let him have several 
in regard to which he shall feel w r armly, and no matter how 
silly they may be, if not wrong, don’t discourage him. If 
he choose to make a collection of blurred and defaced post¬ 
age stamps, from which nothing can be possibly learned, 
encourage him in it. Bring him home some from the 
stores and all covered with the cancelling ink, or coins or 
autographs—better still, minerals, and if you start him 
'with a half a dozen specimens, and a geology treatise, the 
postage folly perhaps, w T ill be speedily forgotten. 

Direct his attention at the stated season to a garden 
spot, and while you are laying out your own, he will work 
most assiduously by your side,' getting practice, health and 
happiness together. Your girls’ natural tastes will early 
be turned into this channel, and by exciting only their 
ambition, the general system will be stimulated, and health 
will course through every vein, and artery of the body. 
Home may be made most attractive by a very little effort, 
but that effort must be made earnestly and kindly. 


CHAPTEE XIY. 


THE HABITS OF THE YOUNG. 

T HE habits of the young are a matter of very great im¬ 
portance. It means nothing more or less, than what 
they shall do, and the way they shall do it, for the remain¬ 
der of their lives. Is not this a serious matter ? 

Some people respecting some things, and occasionally 
respecting every thing in life, have no settled way of action, 
and the consequence is, that when they go to do anything 
(which perhaps they have done every day or week, and 
each time perhaps differently), they have to stop and think, 
and this takes up time—what way they will do the work 
on this especial occasion. 

What another person does insensibly, is w T ith them a 
matter of deliberation, and a consequent frittering away of 
time, and thought, which will ever prevent such a person 
from accomplishing much in the world. Carry such a form 
of mind and habit of thought throughout life, and you can 
see how little time there is for anything else, when every 
trivial action of life is a labored, and distinct process of 
reasoning, instead of the rapid, and thoughtless inspiration 
of habit. 

As a corollary to this, it must be recognized how tyrani- 
cal the habits become, how they rule the individual with 
despotic power. This is evident in the old bachelor and 
old maid. They are called “ set in their ways.” It is 
because they have had no one to interfere with them in 
their tastes, whims, and caprices. They have no one to 


* •* ‘ fJ4 ** ♦ 








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HABITS OF LIFE 


209 


please but themselves; no one to interfere with their plans 
and desires. 

The married live for others, to whose tastes their own 
are too often made to yield. The former have no one to 
wait for, they must dine at just such an hour, to the minute. 
They never have had sick children to watch with, and to 
be anxious respecting, to wait for their coming in from the¬ 
atre, church, or party. No, they have an hour set for 
bed-time, and they do not infringe upon it. Being undis¬ 
turbed at night, they can rise at just such a daily hour, and 
breakfast as they desire, with regularity. It may thus 
be noted, how strong are habits, and the natural de¬ 
duction is, how important it is, that the habits of the young 
should be good habits. 

Too many habits are objectionable, especially for the 
young. Life is made thereby too methodical, monotonous, 
tame, and insipid. 

But there are certain duties of life which are most im¬ 
portant, that are apt to be neglected, if not made a matter 
of system, and the habit strengthened and encouraged, un¬ 
till it becomes a necessity. Of moral habits, I have nothing 
here to say. Ca va sans dike , but I would impress upon 
parents the importance of educating their children into 
habits of bodily care, difficult indeed for many to learn, 
but when acquired, unable to be given up, and of inestima¬ 
ble benefit in all after life. 

PERSONAL CLEANLINESS. 

It would seem as if it was unnecessary, in this nineteenth 
century of civilization and decency, to insist upon so impor¬ 
tant a matter as this, to the health of the creature. Yet it 
is absolutely necessary, for the want of it is painfully and 
disgustingly evident in every walk of life. Every person 
should have a thorough ablution of the whole person, at 


210 


OUR CHILDREN . 


least once a week throughout the year. The city custom 
of a daily bath as matter of luxury, and in warm w’eather, 
is well enough, but health does not require this thorough 
ablution oftener than I have indicated. This should be 
done effectually either with a sponge, or by a bath, as may 
be convenient. There are some persons of rank and pro¬ 
fuse perspiration, that require washing of portions of their 
body daily, and especially the feet. This of itself will pre¬ 
vent, if not cure the corns and bunions so tormenting to 
many. 

There is more necessity to direct attention to cleanliness, 
because this country is becoming filled up with various 
nations of foreigners, some whole classes among whom, 
are essentially and entirely dirty. This fact was distress¬ 
ingly evident a year or two ago, when a “ live duke ” from 
Southern Europe, who had come to this country on a high- 
mission, disgusted everybody at a dinner made in honor of 
his nation, by being so foul in his person, that the half 
dozen crosses and decorations upon his breast, could not 
divert attention from, far less hide the actual dirt on his 
hands, nails, face, and neck, and no Pomatum or Lubin’s 
Extract, could find aroma strong enough to neutralize its 
emenations. 

It is not often that one washes, or bathes too much. 
Yet, the temptation of the overflowing hot and cold water 
of city houses, sometimes induces a sensuality in this direc¬ 
tion positively injurious by its ineruation, and induced 
debility. The increase of these sensual baths, commonly 
called “ Turkish,” “ Russian,” &c., powerful adjuncts as 
they often are of disease, do perhaps as much ill as good, 
when taken as they are by many, simply for the pleasure 
therein. I have known frequently very serious injury to 
result from them. 

The skin no more needs such extra stimulation—such 
'extraordinary scraping and cleansing, than does any other of 


GENERAL CLEANLINESS. 


211 


the organs of the body. We might as well purge the liver 
as the skin, in this excessive manner, and the same with all 
the excretory organs. It is a false and fallacious idea, that 
because the skin constantly exudes from its numerous pores, 
their natural secretion, that this should be removed. The 
liver likewise irritated, will pour out bile, the kidneys 
constantly secrete urine, and we should have just as good 
a reason for the constant taking of local medicines, as for 
the constant topical treatment of the skin. 

CARE OF THE TEETII. 

The teeth are less neglected now than formerly, but far 
more than is proper. Young ladies of beauty are unkiss- 
able by reason of green on the teeth, which the tooth-brush 
would have prevented, if properly and thoroughly used in the 
morning, and more hastily, but sufficient, to rinse away 
every particle of food from the teeth, the last thing before 
retiring to bed every night. Now don’t tell me, young 
miss, that you “ can’t think of it,” or “you are too sleepy 
and tired then.” All my life long, and especially during 
twenty-five years of arduous professional life, I have 
scarcely failed to read a chapter in the Bible—long, or short 
—and then to brush my teeth every night, the last thing 
before stepping into bed, unless when away from home, 
^without a brush, sick on a sea voyage, or on rare occasions 
of that nature. 

No matter at what hour I return from a professional 
engagement and go to bed, at midnight, five or six o’clock 
in the morning, I never forget the tooth-brush—and if I 
have been able to do it, you surely can, and if you do it, 
when you get to your fiftieth year as I have, you may 
have as good a set as I have. But don’t say “ can’t.” 

The green “ tartar ” may be removed by the use of a 
piece of soft slate pencil, rubbing them carefully with the 
sharpened edge. 


212 


OUR CHILDREN". 


A safe and necessary tooth-powder for daily use. 


R 


Bol Armenia 1-2 oz. 

Pulv. Peruvian Bark 1-2 oz. 

Pulv. Orris Root 2 dr. Mixed. 


BRUSHING THE TEETH. 

I suppose there are few, who now do not at least pre¬ 
tend to brush their teeth, and I suppose most think that 
this has been done forever; but before this century it w T as 
very rarely done. I remember my great aunt, who died 
over eighty years old, some twenty odd years ago, had 
every tooth sound. She ascribed it to the care she had 
given them. When young, she “ took a fancy ” to seeing 
them white, and was accustomed to rub them daily with a 
rag, and sometimes ashes, or whiting, as she cleaned the 
family silver. She had never heard of any one’s doing so, 
and brushes were not known for fifty years afterward. 
Every one said to her, that she would “ rub her teeth all 
away,” but having got the custom of having her teeth feel 
clean, she could not leave it off. 

But there are but few, who brush their teeth effectually. 
It is but little importance to brush the surface, for that 
portion will take care of itself, but between the teeth, in 
the crevices, where the food lodges, and what is most im¬ 
portant where lies the secretions from the glands, which is 
w T hat destroys the teeth when acrid—this is the portion of 
the tooth that needs care. 

After all, the great preservation of the teeth is to keep 
the stomach in order. Late meals, dyspeptic stomachs, 
and their acrid tendencies have more to do with decay of 
the teeth than any thing else. Our ancestors generally— 
like my old aunt, lived healthy lives, w T ere vigorous and 
hearty, and their good teeth were owing rather to that, 
than the supposed efficacy of brushes and tooth-pastes and 
powders. Health and vigor of one organ is almost an 


CLEANLINESS NEXT TO GODLINESS. 


213 


imposibility with a general constitutional weakness and 
active disease. 


THE CARE OF THE HAIR. 

When I w r as a boy, it was the ordinary custom for 
respectably brought up families, to prepare on Saturday 
night for the coming Sabbath. If Godliness was left for 
Sunday, the next thing to it, cleanliness, was attended to 
the night before. The children were all washed with 
especial care on that night, if not before during the week, 
and then the head was combed with a line-toothed 
ivory comb—The heads of most youth are full of dandruff 
(and this is the secretion of the skin, through the pores of 
the head, and the exfoliation of the cuticle, combined.) The 
more one exercises and perspires,the more there is of it. It is 
not therefore a disease; it is not objectionable,except as it 
looks badly, when seen in the hair, or falling off upon the gar¬ 
ments and powdering them. The fine-toothed ivory combs 
once used, are now very rare, and stiff brushes have taken 
their place, much to the benefit of the hair, which was for¬ 
merly often injured by being drawn between the teeth 
of the comb. 

Boys’ hair need only this brushing; all shampooing is 
injurious. It is merely wetting the head with an alkaline 
lotion, that dissolves the natural oil of the head, and 
turns it into a soap, and this being washed out, the hair is 
left dry and stiff. 

Oils, and pomatums are not necessary on the hair and, 
very often injurious. If one would only persistently brush 
his hair, with a brush that will reach to the scalp, he will 
find his hair glossy, and soft, without any rancid fat, or ol¬ 
ive and lard-oils, colored and scented. But if the habit of 
using these adjuncts is once commenced, they will gener¬ 
ally be kept up. If parents could only see, whence come 


214 


OUR CHILDREN. 


the ingredients used in these oils and pomatums, especially 
the French, they would never allow the use of them again. 

Girls require greater care of their hair for cleanliness, to 
preserve it, and to assist in its laying properly; many have 
such an unpleasant smell arising from their hair as to be 
almost unbearable. This is caused by the water used on 
the hair, from its being imperfectly brushed, and from the 
decomposition of the bandolines &c, used as dressings. 

These are all substitutes for labor. If one will not use 
anything on the hair, there will be no trouble; but many 
suppose that it is necessary to use something, because their 
hair falls out. This is but natural. One sheds the hair ? 
more or less, every spring and fall, and no application will 
prevent this. It is more observable, when it is long than 
when short; but it is part of the animal economy, which 
is shared by the brutes throughout the range of animated 
nature. 

For the same reason, it is supposed that cutting the hair 
prevents its falling out after the exhaustion of fever; for 
as it is made shorter, it is not so noticeable. Shaving the 
head has very slight utility, except as it benefits the bar¬ 
bers. 

But as few are sensible enough to “let well enough 
alone,” and must pin- their faith on some oil or wash, it is 
well to have some receipt that is not actually injurious, as 
are most of the dyes, bandolines, and tonics. Here is one 
that is as efficacious as any, a slight stimulant and alterative. 



Castor Oil, 4 oz. 

Oil of Bitter Almonds, 20 drops. 

Oil of Orange Flowers, 10 drops. 

Alcohol 90 p. c.—28 oz. 

Tinct. of Spanish Flies, 1-2 oz. mix. 


THE USE OF TOBACCO BY THE YOUNG. 

But now let us call your serious attention to a habit, that 
is unequivocally a bad habit; that has nothing good to be 


THE USE OF TOBACCO. 


215 


said of it. Considered in any light, there is no favorable 
aspect in which to view it. It ranks with the physiologist 
w T ith spirit drinking, opium eating, marsh miasm, diseased 
and insufficient food, as one of the great causes of the de¬ 
generations in the human race. 

Some of these above enumerated causes of the mental and 
physical imbecility, cannot easily be prevented; perhaps 
the poor cannot always get healthy food, and in famine, 
one must take what he can get, and enough if possible, 
and the prevention of marsh miasm is a matter of time, as 
■well as expense. But the employment of opium, and 
tobacco is a matter of will, a voluntarily, heavy expense, 
wholly devoid of any utility, and only a disgusting, selfish 
sensuality, holding those using them in a most degrading 
slavery, recognized as fully by the victims, as by all others. 

Used in moderation by persons of full growth, and ma¬ 
ture faculties, tobacco may not be markedly noxious; but 
'when used immoderately, I presume no one will deny that 
it is exceedingly detrimental. The immediately observable 
and undeniable effects are too marked and serious, to per¬ 
mit any doubt respecting the fact. Irregularity in the 
heart, the great main-spring of life, is daily observed as a 
direct result from its power over the nerves, and we all 
know, that upon the regularity in the action of this organ, 
depends our health, and the duration of our life. 

It is the tendency to excess in the use of tobacco, where¬ 
in lies its danger. The smoker, who feels himself injured 
by the weed, does not say he cannot renounce it, but he 
diminishes the quantity, or reduces the quality, until by 
habit, he is enabled to increase one or both. 

But my object is not to inveigh against the use of to¬ 
bacco, so much as to prevent its being permitted to be used 
by immature boys. Parents can easily prevent this, if 
they will place themselves in correct relationship to their 


216 


OUR CHILDREN\ 


sons. If per-emptorily ordered not to use it, they will un¬ 
questionably be tempted to surreptitiously steal an oppor¬ 
tunity for a trial, the interest in which, is heightened by 
its being prohibited. Promise your son some equivalent, 
say a thousand dollars when he is twenty-one years of age, 
a pony, something that he desires, anything that will be 
effectual in inducing him to keep out of this enervating, 
and demoralizing habit—“ the curse of the present age.” 

Dr. Elam says, “ this is certainly injurious to very young 
people, before development is completed. The great 
quantity of saliva secreted, is likely to interfere with the 
working of the digestive functions. Young smokers are 
generally pale, and meagre, and their nutrition is imper¬ 
fect. There is alternate excitement, and depression of the 
nervous system.” Dr. Selly of St. Thomas Hospital says: 
u I know of no single vice that does so much harm. It is 
a snare, and a delusion. It soothes the excited nervous 
system for a time, to render it more unstable, and feeble 
ultimately. I believe that cases of general paralysis are 
more frequent in England than they used to be; and I 
suspect that smoking tobacco is one of the causes of that 
disease.” 

Dr. Pidduck says :—“ If the evil expired with the indi¬ 
vidual, who, by the indulgence of a pernicious custom, in¬ 
jures his own health, and impairs his facultes of mind and 
body, he might be left to his enjoyment, his fooVsparadise 
unmolested. This, however, is not the case. In no in¬ 
stance is the sin of the father , more strikingly visited upon 
the children , than the sin of tobacco smoking. The ener¬ 
vation, the hypochondriasis, the hysteria, the insanity, the 
dwarfish deformation, the consumption, the suffering lives, 
and early death of the children of the inveterate smokers, 
bear ample testimony to the feebleness, and unsoundness 
of the constitution transmitted by this pernicious habit.” 


SENSUALITIES OF DAILY LIFE. 


217 


These are not arguments to cause a man to renounce 
such a habit as this, rooted and grounded in the selfish na¬ 
ture, but they are reasons of some potency, why one should 
discourage by every means in his power, a son from falling 
into the habit. 

But I have not written these few sentences in the ex¬ 
pectation of accomplishing any appreciable good result. 
The President of the United States smokes persistently, 
the clergy, the judges on the bench emulate this example; 
even physicians, who are supposed to know something of 
hygiene, and the laws of life, cannot confine this sensuality 
to the privacy of their own houses, but ride about in their 
gigs to make their professional calls, with a constant cigar 
in their mouths! In fact, one who does not use tobacco is 
a wonder, and his omission to use it, is ascribed, either to 
his ignorance of real luxury, or more probably, to his par¬ 
simony. 

There is however, no question, and I have seen it my¬ 
self in repeated instance exemplified, that smoking stunts 
the growth of the very young—boys from eight to twelve 
years of age, and the knowledge of this fact may possibly 
urge some mothers, to attempt to keep tobacco out of the 
mouths of their infantile children. 

spieitous and vinous deinks. 

Can we in this connection, pass by the still more serious 

HABIT OF INDULGING IN SPIEITOUS AND VINOUS DEINKS % It 

may add some force to what I am about to say, if I confess 
that I am not myself a tee-totaller, and am not therefore to 
be considered as expressing any extreme, or bigoted views. 
I place all exhilarants, in the same category with all the 
gifts of God to man, all to be used at their proper times, 
and seasons, for the comfort and happiness of man, guided 
by the rule to use, and not abuse.” 

10 


218 


OUR CHILDREN. 


But stimulants, and exliilarants are not called for by 
children. They have no flagging energies to arouse, no 
nervous and bodily exhaustion, to overcome and repair. 
On the contrary, they have an excess of these qualities, and 
they are, or should be engaged in storing away this super¬ 
fluity, into granaries for future consumption, in other 
words, in forming a constitution, which shall enable them 
to carry on the business of life for many subsequent years, 
and bequeath a like vigor to coming generations. 

Children should not be indulged in. any such beverages, 
and they should be instructed the reason why they should 
not. In olden times, when wines and liquors stood open¬ 
ly, and constantly, on every gentleman’s sideboard, children 
never thought of helping themselves, nor did their parents 
help them, except on occasions of great festivity, when 
some sweet, and innocuous wine was sparingly given to 
them, more to connect them with the event, than for any 
excitement it might create. At the present day, children’s 
minds, and imaginations are so morbidly stimulated, that 
they place an unwonted, and very improper estimate on the 
delights of wine-drinking, and look upon it as an evidence 
of manhood. 

As a matter of hygiene, few persons need any stimulants 
before they arrive at mature age; as a matter of social ex¬ 
hilaration, it should not be considered to be ordinarily 
allowable, until one has become his own master. 

By twenty-one years of age, the constitution is formed, 
and the ills inevitable upon too great drinking, will find a 
constitution behind, able to sustain some abuse: and far 
better, a character formed, it is to be hoped, upon such 
safe-guards, and a will of such power, as to prevent one’s 
being led away by the blandishments, and awful seducting 
influences, which surround the free-drinker on every side. 

If the young will entirely abstain thus far, with a prop- 


EFFECTS OF DRINK. 


219 


er character, they will be enabled to gratify their tastes at 
a more mature period with safety, and perhaps with benefit 
to themselves. 

If however , there is an hereditary love of liquor in the 
family; if in past generations, there has been a love which 
was unconquerable, which brought early death from insan¬ 
ity, suicide, delirium-tremens, or less still, from acute 
inflamatory diseases, croup, laryngites, inflamations of brain, 
lungs, heart, rheumatism, Bright’s disease of the kidneys 
—in short, from any disease, the direct result of over-stim¬ 
ulation, then my son, say to yourself, “ I will be a man 
and by my self-denial, I will avert the threatened disaster. 
I will redeem the blood of the family from the curse upon 
it. I will break this entail, and we will stand again 
regenerated, restored, renewed. Mine shall be the “ sec¬ 
ond building of the temple.” 

Can any doubt the hereditary effects of alcoholism? 
Dr, Elam (Physician’s Problems) has enlarged upon this 
theme. I have not even room here to quote his resume, 
but can merely note one or two points, trusting that any 
doubter will refer to his first problem, which takes in 
“ oinomania ” as one of the forms of natural heritage. He 
says, “ the first point to be noticed is this, that the habit 
of the parent, when inherited, does not appear in the child 
merely as a habit , but in most cases as an irresistable impulse, 
a disease, an impulsive desire for stimulating drinks, uncon¬ 
trolled by any motive that can be addressed to the understand¬ 
ing or conscience; in which self-interest, self-esteem, friend¬ 
ship, love, religion are appealed to in vain ; in which the pas¬ 
sion for drink is the master-passion, and subdues itself,every 
other desire, and faculty of the soul. * * * * and some¬ 
times, with a complete abolition of all the moral senti¬ 
ments.” 

“The offspring of the confirmed drunkard, rich or poor, 


220 


OUR CHILDREN. 


will inherit either the original vice, or some of its 
countless protean transformations. The external aspect, 
may in one case be less revolting and coarse than in the 
other, but none, as a rule, can escape the inevitable law 
written in the most hidden recesses of our nature, in 
accordance with which, the children do suffer for the sins 
of the parent, and even at the third and fourth generation 
the taint is hardly wiped away, save by the extinction of 
the line or family. For the disease which leads to these 
sad consequences, there is but one cure—total, and entire 
restraint; so as to prevent for a long period, any possibility 
of indulgence in the depraved taste and habits: even this 
is too often unsuccessful. For a time, under this enforced 
discipline, a cure seems to be affected; but, when the sub¬ 
ject of it is liberated, he too often takes unto him “ seven 
other devils, and the state of that man is worse than the 
first.” 

My personal observations will entirely corroborate the 
sad picture, here so forcibly drawn. I could easily give 
a biographical history of one family, where a father dying 
at an advanced age, for many years a full drinker and in 
his later days subject to frequent intoxication. Leaving 
quite a family of sons, two died at a very early age of de- 
lirum-tremens, another, a clergyman was never able to 
entirely refrain from drinking, dangerous as he must have 
known it was to himself, and family. Another son, a re¬ 
ligious and excellent man, could nevertheless* not refrain 
from drinking, and divided his time between the pulpit 
and the lunatic asylum. Two others were so intemperate 
as to be useless members of society, notwithstanding their 
abilities, and were a constant expense, and source of anx¬ 
iety to their friends. 

MORBID HABITS OF MIND. 

We sometimes hear persons of little culture make the 


SENTIMENTALISM. 


221 


statement, “that they enjoy very poor health.” It is possible 
that these persons are not very happy in the choice of words 
to convey their meaning, but it is also certain that some per¬ 
sons enjoy melancholy, and take a grim satisfation in un¬ 
packing their hoarded griefs, and bringing them up for 
seperate contemplation, as the bereaved mother delights in 
reviewing the clothes, and simple playthings of her dec¬ 
eased oif-spring. 

Some children are made sentimentalists by education. 
They bury their pet canary with ceremonious grief, and 
delight themselves by simulating the lachrymatory evi¬ 
dences of genuine sorrow. Sometimes they succeed in 
working themselves into a positive flood of tears, and by 
excitation, actually weep at these mock funerals. 

There is an exaltation about these parades not entirely 
wanting in pleasure, and repetition with more outward 
evidence of success, has a species of artistic success at the 
counterfeit, added to it, heightening very materially the 
satisfaction. One process leads to another, and the victim 
of this morbid stimulation encourages herself in imagining 
events, magnifying trifles, and making mountains of grief, 
from mole-hills of trouble. 

Sometimes we have a union of forces, and neighboring 
children unite in enjoying these fabricated griefs; and 
growing older, they invite their sentimental friends to visit 
them, and “ have a good cry together.” These statements 
appear ridiculous on paper, but they are recorded as actual¬ 
ities, occurring under my own observation, and I am in¬ 
clined to think, that there is more of such romantic enthu¬ 
siasm than is generally supposed. 

Bearing these remarks in mind, parents will do well to 
have an eye of circumspection in this direction, in order to 
repress any such morbid tendency, which, continued with 
life, degenerates into petty jealousy, suspicion and mi s a a - 


222 


OUR CHILDREN. 


thropy, making not only the originating individual unhap¬ 
py and morose, but materially influencing for the worse, 
all that fall within the circle of this baneful influence. 
There is unhappiness enough in the world unfortunately, 
without its being created, and nourished, solely by the 
imagination. 

SOME HABITS OF MIND AND BODY, APPARENTLY TRIVIAL, YET 
THE SOURCE OF GREAT DISCOMFORT ON THE PART OF THE 
CHILD, AND ANXIETIES OF THE PARENTS. 

One of the most ridiculous feelings, as it seems to us 
after having arrived at mature life, are the fears of child¬ 
hood, but I question, if ever more acute suffering comes to 
many, in the whole course of their after life. 

Sometimes their fears originate from the bug-a-boo sto¬ 
ries told them by nurses and others, which have an intens¬ 
ity of interest, and an actuality hardly recognizable by the 
adult. These are magnified by the vivid imagination of 
childhood, reproduced with personal relations, and this 
torture is inconceivable. The human mind is prone to 
mystery, and the suffering caused by the insane idea of 
spiritual communications from departed friends, are but 
magnified portrayals of the foolish fancies of childhood. 

These imaginings in childhood we cannot expect to be 
influenced by reasonings, or argument, seeing how little 
amenable are the adult children all around us, to logic and 
common sense. 

But I do not propose to discuss the question here, or 
elsewhere. All I desire is, that parents should recognize 
the actual torture, under which imaginative children are 
frequently suffering, and endeavor to lessen and not to 
heighten these real woes. Do not force one of these ner¬ 
vous children to go into a retired room after dark, or shut 
up the refractory child for punishment in a dark closet, as 


UNPLEASANT HABITS. 


223 


is sometimes done, with the result of bringing on immedi¬ 
ate convulsions, and an unhinging of the whole nervous 

system. 

Yield therefore to these imaginings of your child; laugh 
at them if you please, and reason with him, but do not 
force him to expose himself to this trial of his nerve. Time 
will soon, with coming judgment and strength, drive away 
all these terrors, and he who was frightened at darkness, 
may yet bravely offer his life for his own or his country’s 
honor. 


DREAMS OF YOUTH. 

A somewhat different form of the same mental charac¬ 
teristic comes in the dreams of youth ; “ in thoughts from 
the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, 
fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my 
bones to shake; then a spirit passed before my face, the 
hair of my flesh stood up, it stood still, but I could not 
discern the form thereof, an image was before mine eyes. 
There was silence, and I heard a voice.” 

This vivid description of Job is the veri-similitude of the 
torturing dreams, which visit the pillow of many a child, 
and make the idea of going to bed repugnant, and the 
reality torture. 

If your child complains of such soul-harrowing dreams, 
and awakes in the morning little refreshed from its prolonged 
stay in bed, and uneasy slumbers, ascribe it to its easily 
recognizable cause, to “ niglit-mareto the result of inju¬ 
dicious, or too late eating; alter the character of food taken 
at the last meal, its quality or quantity, and there will be 
an end to these sufferings. Especially permit no eating of 
fruit, nuts, or cake after the last meal, and as frequently 
occurs, immediately before retiring. 

1 In this connection, I may be permitted to allude to still 


221 


OUR CHILDREN. 


anotlier nocturnal liabit, which gives rise to great annoy¬ 
ance, and no little shame, and mortification. It is the habit 
of wetting the bed. Here is another instance where it is 
the height of cruelty to a child to visit this misfortune by 
scoldings and castigation. There is in nature, a great 
secretion by the kidneys during the quiescence of sleep. 
The blood has little demand for it, and its bulk is dimin¬ 
ished by the quiet action of the kidneys and emunctories 
which eliminate its grosser materials, and purges itself of 
its crassness. 

In the adult, the consequent oppression felt by the 
over-flowing bladder, awakes him from his less complete 
sleep, and he is enabled to prevent the catastrophe which 
falls to the lot of the youth who, free from care, is buried 
in a profound slumber. If his overwhelmed nature is cap¬ 
able of any perception of current events, his uneasiness 
vents itself in an uneasy dream, wherein he fancies himself 
disturbed by this necessity on some public occasion, and 
concludes to his great satisfaction by an unexpected oppor¬ 
tunity occurring, whereby he obtains relief. The coming 
day finds that it was not all a dream. 

The proper method of treating such occurrences, is by 
carefully guarding against taking any food or drink, for 
many hours before bed-time, by awaking the child an 
hour or two after retiring, until a habit is formed of awaken¬ 
ing himself, and by no means to attempt by punishments, 
or threats of any mortification, or useless medicines, to 
prevent it. Time will surely eradicate the habit. 

In a previous chapter I have referred to other habits of 
a more general nature, which I trust, taken in connection 
with those here descanted upon, may be the means of 
early directing the attention of parents toward special 
faults, which, w T hen newly commenced, and not become 
fixed as habits, may be easily broken up. 


KINDNESS AND CONSISTENCY. 


225 


Most of all, I would reprobate the harshness which 
endeavors to prevent certain habits—dependent not upon 
the desire of the will, but upon natural organization, and 
nervous proclivities—from being established, or counte¬ 
nanced, by castigation, threats, or in any way, except by a 
removal of the exciting causes when possible, and by that 
general system of kindness and amity, which should always 
exist between parent and child. 

The inconsistency which a parent exhibits, when in a 
towering passion he severely punishes a child for any fault 
—least of all, for one not dependent upon will, and devoid 
of all intention to do wrong—and then goes upon his 
knees, to ask his Divine Parent to forgive him for his own 
sins committed in the strength of manhood, and open-eyed 
—such inconsistency is marvelous. 

Not that I am opposed to physical punishment, but 
while on the contrary, I approve of it in the rare cases that 
are necessary, I yet deem it like the capital punishment 
of criminals, to be reserved for those audacious crimes of 
comparatively rare occurrence, and demanding exemplary 
and condign punishment. The errors of childhood are 
rarely flagitious, and the parent who asks forgiveness for 
himself, cannot say anything better than 

That mercy I to others show, 

That mercy show to me. 


10 * 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE ACCIDENTS OF CHILDHOOD, AND THE FIRST THING TO BE 
DONE FOR THEM. 

O XE reason which I have never seen mentioned why 
there are so many more children horn into the world than 
live or can live, or, living a short season, die off early, is, 
that so many are required for young mothers to learn on, 
for young fathers to try their crude plans for “hardening ”on, 
for nurses, and old maid sisters,and grandmothers, and young 
doctors to practice on. 

Babies are peculiarly adapted for these purposes. First, 
they have little to say for themselves as to what ails them, 
whether they feel better or worse after the enforced treat¬ 
ment, and although they make considerable noise, whether 
as a protest, or asking for more, is not perfectly understood. 
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, “ there are plen¬ 
ty more where these came from.” Thirdly, they have every 
form of disease to which human adult flesh is heir to, and some 
additional, peculiarly infantile, and interesting to amateur 
“ medicationists.” Fourthly, they are endued with great 
tenacity of life. They can be “ trotted ” till one would 
think their little heads would snap off their pipe-stem necks, 
or their incipient brains become addled. They can swal¬ 
low unlimited amounts of catnip-tea, and castor-oil, and 
paregoric, and soothing-syrups, swill-milk, prepared grits 
and barley, and mother’s milk, redolent with corn and sweet 
potatoes, and melons, and beer, and rum, and hun¬ 
dreds of additional colicky and depravity-breeding mate¬ 
rials. Xurses can leave them opposed to drafts and gusty 


SOBER RESUME OF CHILD LIFE. 


227 


showers, with their heads in the sunbeams of August, and 
their feet in its shade, while they flirt with the grocer-boy 
as he passes through the park. They can fall down areas, 
into pools and tubs of hot water, pick their eyes out with 
scissors, put peas in their noses, swallow pennies ,or matches, 
or bits of any beautiful caustic they may find lying around, 
sugar of lead, or nitrate of silver. They will empty at 
oue draught, their father’s bottle of “ bitters” which was to 
last him a week. As they get bigger, they can get scratch¬ 
ed by the cat, bitten by the dog, kicked by the cows, but¬ 
ted by the calves, thrown over the fence from the colt’s 
back. They may cut their fingers “a whittling,” their 
knees with ax, sickle or scythe, cut off a few joints with 
a hay-cutter, get ducked in the pond, tumbled off of hay- 
carts, scaffoldings, fruit-trees, blown up by blasts and 
fancy pistols and shot-guns, bruised by stones and snow¬ 
balls, pummeled by bully-playmates. Such an opportuni¬ 
ty for experience, such a field of practice, such an inex¬ 
haustible supply, was made evidently for the wise purpose 
described already. We will endeavor to promote this 
laudable end, by giving very briefly some of the results to 
which the world has arrived, after the observations and 
traditions of many centuries. 

Partially from their ignorance of cause and effect, par¬ 
tially from the restless activity, inseparable from youth, 
children are constantly suffering from accidents of various 
kinds, and as these are very apt to occur when at a dis¬ 
tance from any medical relief, and as they are of such a 
nature as to require immediate assistance, I will briefly 
review some of the principal forms of accidental injury, 
with a hasty summary of some of the means of relief, 
such as can be applied by one not necessarily skilled in 
surgery, and with such remedies and appliances, as are to 
be found in ordinary country houses. 


228 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Perhaps the earliest mis-hap that children bring upon 
themselves is from sticking beans, peas, beads, and buttons, 
into their ears and nose. In these cases fortunately, there 
is no immediate danger to be apprehended, but they often 
are very difficult to be removed, as they are frequently 
crowded into the passages, when of too large a size to be 
even admitted easily. 

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE NOSE. 

Wads made of paper when passed into the nostrils, 
or soft vegetable matter, are merely passed out of 
sight, as a narrowness in the passage is very apt to re¬ 
strain any further advance, and with a bent piece of wire 
—as a hair-pin—the foreign substance may generally be 
hooked down and extracted. 

If however, it be pushed still farther, it falls back into 
the expanded chamber of the nasal passages, and there it is 
out of the reach of any but a skillful surgeon. This is very 
apt to be the case with cherry-pits, beads, and other like 
hard substances, which the parent is very apt to push 
back in the attempt to remove it. With a struggling, 
frightened child, and a nervously excited parent, this is not 
improbable. Even then, there need be no alarm or anxiety, 
inasmuch as these substances may remain there for several 
days, and perhaps weeks, without exciting any disturbance. 
In the course of that time, they are very generally dis¬ 
lodged by some sudden jar, from the child jumping about, 
by the ordinary movements of the act of swallowing, or 
very commonly by a fit of sneezing, when it usually falls 
into the mouth, and is spit out. 

Should this foreign body remain long in this warm, 
moist passage, and it chance to be a pea, or bean, it may 
swell and sprout—if a bit of hard gristle meat, or vegetable, 
it will decay, if it has sharp edges, or any projections, or 
if made of any caustic material it may irritate, and 


INJURIES OF THE ORGANS OF SENSE. 


229 


the result will be that ‘the child must be taken to a compe¬ 
tent surgeon, who, by means of a whalebone, or a long pair 
of curved forceps, may pass down through the nostrils and, 
so it may be reached and removed. 

FOREIGN BODIES IN THE EAR. 

Substances pushed in the same manner into the ear, are 
much more important, and will require no little skill to 
remove, inasmuch as there is no other way for them to be 
got out, except, that by which they entered. Even if soft 
and pliable, they come into immediate contact with the 
organ of hearing, and if introduced far, must rest directly 
upon the tympanum, or drum of the ear, the especial organ 
of the sense of hearing. 

This delicate veil stretched across the extremity of the 
orifice is extremely sensitive, and anything resting upon it 
will give acute pain, while if any great pressure last for any 
considerable time, the tympanum will become inflamed, 
ulcerated throughout, destroyed, and then the sense of hear¬ 
ing on the ear is lost forever. 

No delay should therefore be permitted to attend a 
matter having such serious, not only possible, but probable 
ill-results. 

BLOWS ON THE HEAD. 

In another place I have spoken of the injurious results 
from the punishment of children by blows upon the head, 
or what is called “ boxing the ears—the results are too 
serious to a subject for family treatment; rupture of the 
drum, abscess, and permanent loss of hearing, are some of 
the results. 

While writing this chapter, I have seen the hearing of 
one ear of a child entirely destroyed by the rupture of the 
tympanum by a blow on the ear, given by a school teacher 
in England, about a year ago.. 


230 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Like accidents result from the effect of snow-balls vio¬ 
lently hitting the side of the head. When severe pain is 
the result, then we may attempt its relief by blowing to¬ 
bacco smoke into it, hot and strong through a tobacco pipe. 
To do this, after lighting a pipe filled with ordinary tobacco, 
the bowl should be covered with a gauze, and the mouth 
placed over it, then blow the smoke from the burning 
tobacco through the pipe-stem and into the ear. Care is 
requisite that it should be not too hotly applied. 

WATER IN THE EAR. 

Another more common accident comes to the unaccus¬ 
tomed bather, and it is said more especially, when in surf¬ 
bathing, from the direct effect of the force with which the wa¬ 
ter is dashed into the ear. Some consider it to be partially, 
if not entirely owing to the action of the salt upon the 
ear. However this may be, it is observed that shortly af¬ 
ter such bathing, there commences a sort of deafness, and 
leads one to suspect, that some water had entered the ear 
and was still retained there. 

This happens, if at all, on account of the presence of a 
small bubble of fluid within the ear, and is necessarily very 
temporary, but the feeling still remains. When one hav¬ 
ing such symptoms, finally goes to an aurist, he discovers 
that there is a large collection of wax in the cavity, and 
when this is removed by a syringe and warm water, 
although there is great relief, it does not always entirely 
pass away. This is owing to some inflammation of the 
parts, and a careful examination reveals more or less, 
inflammation of the tympanum, and this may be very severe, 
accompanied by initiative inflammation of the tympanum. 

The treatment to be resorted to in such an event, is a 
vigorous one. If there is much pain or heat around the 
ear, cheek &c, we may apply one or two leeches around 
the opening of the ear externally—care being taken not 


ACCIDENTS i/JT CHILDREN. 


231 


to allow them to crawl in and seize on the tympanum it¬ 
self, which would be exceedingly painful. Nothing how¬ 
ever will give more relief than a hot poultice, to be fol¬ 
lowed by the following stimulating liniment around the ear 
and cheek, applied several times a day. 


Potass, Iodid, 2 drs. 

Spt. Ammon, Aromat, 2 oz. 



Make no applications into the ear, unless, if exceedingly 
painful, a few drops of laudanum on a pledget of cotton, 
which may be passed well into the meatus, or wetting in 
and around with spirits of camphor. 

The injuries arising from the “snapping the ears” are 
not internal and are unimportant, but I have known severe 
injury to arise from a teacher’s venting his anger upon a 
child, by savagely twisting the external ear till the result 
was a quite severe injury. A hot poultice is the best 
relief, if any such brutality should be committed iu these 
modem days. 


FREEZING THE EARS. 


If not allowed to thaw too rapidly, it will have no worse 
result than a sensitiveness which sometimes remains for 
several seasons. Sometimes however, there is an ulcerated 
condition which continues for quite a period, and the re¬ 
sult is a loss of a greater or less portion of the rim. Occa¬ 
sionally, in scrofulous children, an ulcerated condition 
remains for quite a period, and will require general consti¬ 
tutional treatment from a skilled physician. 

The great aim should be, to have any portion of the per¬ 
son that should chance to be frozen, thaw from the weather 
first. One should therefore very guardedly enter a warm 
room, or near to a fire; and instead, by taking warm 
drinks and by exercise, to excite the circulation, until they 
again cause tiie current of the blood to flow freely through 


232 


OUR CHILDREN. 


the frozen portion. Thus, with the exception of some after 
tendency, the whole ill effects of what might occur from 
freezing will be easily passed away. 

Lacerations of the ear , are not unfrequent from 
various causes. If the torn or cut edges are placed as 
nearly as possible in their original position, the parts will 
generally unite, if bound firmly by strips of adherent plas¬ 
ter, and left thus for several days. 


INJURIES TO THE EYES. 


The injury of these important organs are among the se¬ 
rious accidents of childhood; those occurring from blows 
from sticks, stones, the fist, may produce formidable look¬ 
ing “ black eyes,” but these are rarely of any great import¬ 
ance. Providence has placed the projecting brow, the 
salient cheek, and the edge of the nose as if for the peculiar 
purpose of especially guarding the important organ of 
vision. A black-eye is rarely more than a rupture of some 
slight subcutaneous blood vessel, and its contents are effused, 
around the eye, into the loose cellular tissue surrounding. 
It can there do little injury, and its removal may be some¬ 
what hastened by bathing it with a solution of 


Muriate of Ammonia, 2 drs. 
Hot water, 1 pt. 

Allow it to cool before using. 



Mix. 


The really serious injuries come to the eye by injury to 
the ball itself. Sand, and dust, and chaff may enter the 
lids and inflame them, but after they are removed the 
inflammation soon passes away. The rough beard of rye, 
and other grains, are more irritating, and their removal 
effected with more difficulty; but a blow upon the ball, 
hitting it powerfully, may break it, allow the vitreous hu 
mor to escape, or may result in cataract. Piercing the 
ball with any sharp pointed instrument, a knife-blade or 


INJURIES TO THE EYES. 


233 


scissors, or jagged stick, may be followed by permanent 
blindness. It is probable that in the most of such cases, 
one can do little at home for their relief. The best advice 
of a specialist even, may not be sufficient to save the vision 
from destruction, but one thing remember. 

In all injuries, and accidents, and diseases that 

MAY HAPPEN TO THE EYE-BALL, DO NOT VENTURE TO APPLY 
ANY HOT POULTICES, OR HOT APPLICATIONS TO IT, WITHOUT 
THE BEST MEDICAL ADVICE. 

On the contrary, cold water may always be freely used 
without fear of evil consequences. 

ACCIDENTS FROM CUTS WITH ANY SHARP INSTRUMENT. 

Children have a wondrous aptitude for getting themselves 
injured, with every form of cutting instrument, pen-knives, 
scythes, hay-cutters, axes; they all have their turn, but the 
injury they all do is of the same general character. It is 
what is called a clean cut, of a greater or less extent and 
depth. A few general principles will serve to guide for 
the dressing of any ordinary cut wound. 

If the blood which flows from the wound is dark, and 
runs from, and over the wound, we may conclude that it 
is only veins that are severed, and veins very rarely require 
anything further to stop their flowing, than pressure di¬ 
rectly upon the cut surface. In this case the clots that 
may have formed in the wound, should be carefully wash¬ 
ed away, and also any dirt, gravel, sand, or other material, 
and the cut edges should then be firmly pressed together, 
and kept there by a strip of adhesive plaster—not a mean, 
stingy bit, that but just covers the wound, but one which 
may go for several inches each side of it, and thus be so 
firmly secured, that there can be no possibility of its being 
torn off by any motion, or any ordinary slight swelling. 

But if from the cut, a stream of blood spurts out , with 


234 


OUR CHILDREN. 


a jerky jet, bright red crimson, then it is evident that an 
artery is severed. If this is a small one in the finger, wrist, 
or about the small joints, or limbs, then we should endeav¬ 
or to apply the same dressing as before, but passing the 
strip of plaster way round the limb, so as to make strong 
and firm pressure. 

Then we should make a pad of eight or ten thicknesses 
of ordinary cotton, and apply this between the cut and the 
heart , as nearly as you might judge immediately over the 
course of the blood vessel that comes from the heart, and 
this should be bound down firmly by a band of cotton first, 
one over the cut, and upward over the pad; next, one from 
the very extremity of the limb or finger, upward and over 
the first bandage. 

If the vessel is a large one, and the bleeding is very 
profuse, do not neglect to apply the dressing as above 
given, and at the same time, take a handkerchief and put¬ 
ting it above the injury, that is, between it and the heart, 
tie it quite loosely. Then put in a piece of stick, say a 
foot long, and twist it as tight as can well be borne, or at 
least until the blood stops flowing; make the twist come 
an inch or two above the wound, and directly under the 
twist, place a pad—and this pad should be a bit of cork as 
large as two or three old-fashioned cents, covered with 
several thicknesses of cotton. 

You can do all this, and it will be better to do too much 
than too little, while somebody is going for a surgeon. 
When he conies, he may think it best to dress the wound 
afresh, and to put in some stitches &c, but if so, then your 
application saved a great loss of blood, and perhaps even a 
life. Yery likely if the bleeding is thus stopped, the 
surgeon will think it best to leave it for several days before 
opening it, while nature is at work repairing the damage. 

Sometimes the knife of a hay-cutter has taken off the joints 


FINGERS GROWN ON AGAIN. 


235 


of one or more fingers. I have known parents, wlio, having 
read marvelous reports of fingers and toes growing on again, 
do such foolish things as washing the dirt off’ the amputa¬ 
ted joints, and putting them where they came from, and 
carefully binding them on, hope to get a like renewal and 
reunion. The age of miracles is passed. In twenty-five 
years practical professional life, I have never seen, or 
known, a single instance of such like rejoining. 

But the statement is sometimes made, u that there’s no 
hurt in trying, if it don’t do any good, it will do no hurt.” 
We are compelled to excuse such remarks, from the igno¬ 
rance of the speakers. Such experiments however, do 
hurt. They prevent a proper dressing of the wound. 
The end of the bone is thereby almost always left exposed, 
and thus it will necessitate a subsequent amputation, and 
at a time, when, if the injury had been properly dressed at 
first, the wound would have been entirelv healed. 

Then, there is far greater danger from subsequent hem¬ 
orrhage, from lock-jaw, and the joint is certainly left much 
shorter at the close, w T hen all is healed. 

INJURIES FROM GUN-POWDER, 

and other explosives are of those descriptions, which may 
be considered as external. By that, I mean lacerations of 
the integument, and surface injuries from the direct influ¬ 
ence of the explosion and burning of the gun-powder it¬ 
self. Another, which is internal, is that done by shot, balls, 
and wadding,beneath the skin. 

The former may be considered as a burn, and treated as 
will be directed in another place. If however, there should 
be any unburnt grains of powder, lodged under the skin, 
these must be carefully washed out, as much as possible 
before the first dressing. 

Probably the wound will be too painful, and the child 


236 


OUR CHILDREN. 


too much in fear, and too fretful, to allow of any great suc¬ 
cess at this time. But by the next day, the smarting will 
be in a great degree allayed, and then, and in a few follow¬ 
ing days there will be more or less inflammation, and some 
ulceration around each deposit of the powder. Then, with 
a long needle and great patience each one can be opened, 
and the greater portion extracted. 

Some of the remaining part may be removed, by careful 
washing with milk and water. If this is repeated diligently, 
day after day, before the parts have healed, the blue spots 
will have faded very materially, and perhaps have entirely 
disappeared. If not, each one can be cut down upon with 
a sharp knife, and then by being rubbed and irritated, some 
portion will be thus extracted, and the sore that will be 
thus made, in the process of healing will carry off, possibly, 
all that remains. 

If, however, it be found that some discoloration is left in 
a conspicuous position, this can be again worked at, in a 
similar manner, until entirely removed. Patience is the 
greatest requisite, both in the patient, w T ho has to bear the 
painful irritation of the pick, and also in the operator, who 
will probably get tired of such a continued job, and the 
result will be a more or less conspicuous scar. 

Where however, the injury is done not by the immediate 
burning from the powder, but from the discharge of shot, 
or a ball which penetrated far beneath the skin, the injury 
will most probably be too great for the care of an uninstruct¬ 
ed person. The principal effort of a parent or friend, will 
be to arrest any bleeding that may occur. Ordinarily, there 
is little resulting from a gun-shot wound. If however, as 
sometimes occurs, the bullet has severed a large vessel in 
the leg or arm, we may follow the directions already given 
in speaking of cuts with a sharp instrument, by making 
pressure upon the artery above (between it and the heart) 


BALLS IN THE BODY. 237 

the wound, and by compressing the wound itself, by nu¬ 
merous folds of cloth bound tightly upon it. 

If, however, the ball has passed into the body, through 
the chest especially, the external orifice should not be 
closed up , as the flow of blood will not be thereby arrested, 
but will continue to escape from the artery into the 
cavity of the lungs or abdomen, and retained there, will 
be an additional injury from its clotting and remaining as 
a foreign body. 

No attempt should be made to remove the ball by an 
uninstructed person; first, because it is usually an operation 
requiring great skill; secondly, its presence for a little lon¬ 
ger or shorter time is immaterial, while the attempt to re¬ 
move it, whether successful or not, will be very apt to be 
followed by a bleeding, perhaps not easily controlled. 

BROKEN BONES. 

broken bones are very common accidents in juvenile 
life, but although quite formidable ones at the time of 
their occurrence, being sometimes quite painful, leave little 
permanent injury when properly attended to. 

While sending for a surgeon, if there is great pain, the 
limb should be placed as nearly as possible in a natural 
position, and kept as quiet as possible. If it is one of the 
long bones of the extremity of the limb, it should be drawn 
down to the same length as the corresponding one, and 
placed on some firm, unyielding substance, as a flat cushion 
resting on a board. 

Should the broken end protrude through the skin, the 
limb should be forcibly pulled down in such a direction, 
that the end of the bone shall be drawn into as near a nat¬ 
ural position as can be easily done, and kept there, while 
the bleeding should be restrained as much as possible, by a 
firm bandage drawn tightly around the pierced wound, in 


238 


OUR CHILDREN. 


a manner like that given in the directions for treating gun¬ 
shot wounds, and cuts generally. 

If it should chance that some hours, or perhaps a day or 
two might elapse before a competent surgeon could be 
obtained to set the bone, after having drawn the limb straight, 
and placed the ends of the bone as nearly as possible in the 
right position (which will be suspected by the consequent 
diminution of the pain), after covering the limb with a sin¬ 
gle thickness of cotton or linen, then take a long piece of 
paste-board, or a part of a paper box, and having made it 
pliable by dipping it into hot water, place it lengthwise 
upon the limb, mould it somewhat to the shape of the limb, 
and bind it on quite firmly. It should be wide enough to 
nearly encircle the limb, and when it has dried it will be 
found to be quite stiff, and to support the limb perfectly. 

If the fractured bone be a collar bone, or rib, little can 
be done but to keep the patient quiet till relief comes. If 
the patient is bleeding internally, as may be evinced by 
spitting up blood, either with a cough, or an attempt to 
vomit, we may fear that a broken rib has pierced the lung 
or stomach. Quietude of mind as well as body are then 
of the greatest importance, as any excitement, by increasing 
the action of the heart, and disturbing the regularity of the 
breathing, will but augment the flow. 

If there is fracture of the bones of the face or head, the 
hurt is even more serious, both from the immediate dan¬ 
ger, and the deformity that may ensue after a cure may be 
effected. The most trivial of these injuries is that which 
may happen to the nose. As this organ is eminently con¬ 
spicuous, any injury affecting its regularity is markedly 
apparent. The most common accident is the separation of 
the protruding gristle, or cartilage of the nose from the 
bone below. Unless this accident is speedily attended to, 
the swelling which comes on very rapidly may prevent its 


SEVERE ACCIDENTS. 


239 


being recognized, and before it passes away, it may have 
formed an improper adherence; the consequence is a 
permanent disfiguration of this portion, naturally changing 
the beauty of the countenance as well as its look of intelli¬ 
gence, thus giving one an appearance far different from 
his natural character, and by that means, perhaps, blighting 
his prospects for life. More than that, it also not unfre- 
quently changes the voice, so as to make it disagreeable, 
and even ludicrous in its intonation. 

A similar disfiguration, but not quite so severe, is caused 
by a dislocation of the little, shell-like bones, about the size 
of a finger-nail, which are on each side of the nose near its 
root, and just about where the spectacle bow touches it. 
It is quite difficult to determine this accident, unless 
seen immediately after their displacement, and not easy to 
restore them to their true position at any time. 

FRACTURES OF THE JAW, 

either of the upper or lower, are more rare accidents in 
children, as they are the result of severer injuries than those 
to which they are often subjected—such as railroad acci¬ 
dents, kicks from animals, the “ kickings ” of guns, &c., 
and these are far beyond domestic treatment. 

By falls from trees, high rocks, roofs of houses, hay mows, 
&c., children are very subject to injuries of the head , and 
the most common of these is to be taken up senseless—that 
is, they have concussion of the brain. 

Utter prostration, complete innervation, a deathly look 
to the countenance, which is devoid of all color, are the 
marked symptoms, all looking like death, while the solitary 
sign of life is the irregular, infrequent gaspings for 
breath at very prolonged intervals, and on raising the eye¬ 
lids, the eyes are noted expressionless and lifeless, rolling 
with regularity from one side to the other. The skin is 


240 


OUR CHILDREN\ 


cold and clammy, and the pulse is feeble and infrequent. 
Life is however evidently present. 

We carefully examine the head upon which the child has 
struck, and find no evidences of fracture. This examina¬ 
tion should he made immediately , by the parent or any¬ 
body that sees the child first after the accident, as swelling 
comes on so rapidly as to entirely obscure the wound, and 
render it impossible to tell whether or not the bone under¬ 
neath is injured. 

If the skin is cut through, and there is considerable 
bleeding therefrom, the swelling will be less, but still the 
condition ot the bone will be masked. If the cut is deep, 
push the finger down hard upon the bone, and, if necessary, 
take the point of a knife, or end of scissors, and see if there 
is any fracture of the bone. If it passes easily, without 
catch, over the smooth surface of the bone there is no bone 
broken. 

If this be all, probably the child has by this time be¬ 
come somewhat sensible, for those around have been rubbing 
his limbs, giving him some slight stimulants, and the first 
evidence of returning sensibility is probably vomiting, after 
which consciousness in a great degree has returned, yet with 
great prostration and weakness; but in a few hours, perhaps 
after a sleep, he will awake in apparently ordinary vigor. 
He must, however, not be allowed to return to school, to 
play, or any severe exercise for several days, but be watched 
with care for any untoward symptoms. Such accidents as 
these may lay the train for a series of cerebral troubles, 
persistent headaches, mental debility, or epilepsy. 

While I am writing this sheet, a young lad of eleven 
years of age by an accident fell backward into an area, near 
which he was sitting, striking upon his head. lie got up, 
walked to his own house some few rods distant, was imme¬ 
diately seized with convulsions, and died before night. 


INJURIES TO THE HEAD . 


241 


The post-mortem examination by the coroner showed that 
he had ruptured a blood vessel upon the brain. 

If there is a fracture of the skull , it will be recognized 
by a marked depression of the bone, and in this case the 
stupor into which he is thrown will be persistent; the 
breathing will be slow, labored, and sonorous. According 
to the extent and location, there will be continuous paraly¬ 
sis. There is little to be done except by an expert surgeon, 
who will endeavor to, remove the cause of this state of 
lethargy and depression. This he will endeavor to do as 
speedily as possible. The operation is a formidable one. 
It consists in making a free exposure of the cranial bones, 
by cutting the scalp and raising it away from the bone; 
then, by means of a kind of auger, the surgeon cuts out a 
piece of bone as large as a bottle cork, either the broken 
portion or adjacent to it, and then forcibly pries up the 
depressed piece which, resting upon the brain, is the cause 
of the paralysis. When this is done, a larger or smaller 
quantity of the broken down substance of the brain itself 
escapes with effused blood, clots, &c. 

Sometimes consciousness returns immediately with this 
removal of pressure, and a sufficient intelligence for the 
recognition of friends. 

According to the locality of the injury—if it is limited 
to this spot—is the chance of ultimate recovery. As may 
be supposed, the chances are very precarious in any event; 
but if the injury be in the anterior portion of the cranium, 
the seat of the intellectuality, the chances are better than 
if in the posterior portion, where the injury is in the cere¬ 
bellum and vicinity, the location from whence spring the 
nerves of sensation, motion, and life. 

But the important thought in this connection is what 
is to be done by parents, or by-standers immediately after 
the accident, and before the surgeon has arrived % Usually, 
11 


242 


OUR CHILDREN*. 


there is nothing to he done; absolute quiet is to be main¬ 
tained. Do nothing, unless you are well convinced that 
what you do is correct. Of course, keep the patient suffi¬ 
ciently warm by rubbing the limbs, and by warm applica¬ 
tions to the extremities. 

Almost invariably, it would be wrong to attempt to 
staunch the blood which flows from the wound; certainly, 
unless extremely excessive, for any considerable flow 
will but act as a substitute for such bleeding as might be 
necessary to allay inflammation, and, by closing the 
external exit, you may inadvertently force the stream 
to take an internal direction, and, by clotting within the 
cranium but add to the pressure. 

Here I leave the patient in the physician’s hands, under 
whose care, under the best auspices, he must remain for 
many weeks, and perhaps months of watching, but fortu¬ 
nately with little bodily suffering. His recovery will be 
very slow, and during this time he must be kept very quiet 
with no excitement around. 

And now comes the question, which from the beginning 
has agitated his parents’ breasts, “ If he recovers will he 
have his intelligence and ordinary capacity, or will he be 
but an idiotic, weak-minded, simple boy?” 

What the child might have become, it is impossible to 
say. The injury will have been a great draw-back upon 
him. Nature will refill the vacuum with renewed brain 
substance, and the hole made in the skull will be filled up 
with new material, and, save a slight depression, little evi¬ 
dence will remain of the great damage that has been done. 
But a year or more will elapse before any schooling can be 
resumed, and for a period it will seem as if the child had 
forgotten everything he ever knew. 

Mysterious and wonderful are the workings of the brain; 
Gradually memory returns, imperceptibly reason resumes 


THE RECOMPENSE ONE SOMETIMES GETS. 243 

its Control, and in the course of a few years there is a man 
before you, in the flush of health, and apparently in the 
perfection of mental attributes. He has no memory of 
your face, but he says, “ Sir, I owe my life to your skill 
and attention. I have no memory of your face, or of my 
injury, but my parents tell me of your devotion, assiduity, 
and capacity.” Such an one came to me during the late 
war, to ask if he was not fit to serve his country in arms. 
He was strong, stalwart, and apparently intelligent, earn¬ 
ing his living in some semi-intellectual employment. Ap¬ 
parently he was as well capable of service as another, but 
I could not but advise him to avoid the intense excite¬ 
ments, fatigue, and anxieties of a soldier’s life. I have not 
since seen him. 

DROWNING. 

There are several methods for restoring animation. I 
give here the most celebrated, while I have especial 
pleasure in recalling the memory of thp writer of the best 
text-book on the practice of medicine that I ever read; the 
genial Englishman who, while he did so much to advance 
the science*of medicine, I personally found to be a finished 
gentleman, a delightful associate, and a warm friend. 

MARSHALL HALL’S READY METHOD IN ASPHYXIA. 

1st. Treat the patient instantly on the spot , in the open 
air , freely exposing the face, neck, and chest to the breeze, 
except in severe weather. 

2nd. In order to clear the throat , place the patient gen¬ 
tly on the face, with one wrist under the forehead, that all 
fluid, and the tongue itself, may fall forward, and leave the 
entrance to the windpipe free. 

3rd. To excite respiration , turn the patient slightly on 
his side, and apply some irritating or stimulating agent to 
the nostrils, as Veratrine , dilute Ammonia , etc . 


244 


OUR CHILDREN. 


4th. Make the face warm by brisk friction; then dash 
cold water upon it. 

5th. If not successful, lose no time; but, to imitate res¬ 
piration, place the patient on his face, and turn the body 
gently, but completely on the side, and a little beyond ; then 
again on the face, and so on, alternately. Repeat these 
movements deliberately, and perseveringly, fifteen times 
only in a minute. (When the patient lies on the thorax, 
this cavity is compressed by the weight of the body, and 
^piration takes place. When he is turned on the side, 
this pressure is removed, and Aspiration occurs.) 

6th. When the prone position is resumed, make a uni¬ 
form and efficient pressure along the spine, removing the 
pressure immediately, before rotation on the side. (The 
pressure augments the ^aspiration; the rotation commences 
Aspiration.) Continue these measures. 

7th. Rub the limbs upward, with firm pressure and 
with energy. (The object being to aid the return of venous 
blood to the heart.) 

8th. Substitute for the patient’s wet clothing, if possi¬ 
ble, such other covering as can be instantly procured, each 
bystander supplying a coat or cloak, etc. Meantime, and 
from time to time, to excite inspiration, let the surface of 
the body be slapped briskly with the hand. 

9th. Rub the body briskly till it is dry and warm, then 
dash cold water upon it, and repeat the rubbing. 

Avoro the immediate removal of the patient, as it in¬ 
volves a dangerous loss of time —also, the use of bellows, 
or any forcing instrument; also, the warm bath and all 
rough treatment. 

ACCIDENTS FROM BURNING, SCALDING &C. 

The discovery and introduction into general use of ex¬ 
plosive oils, gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, of steam, and elec- 


BURNS BY KEROSENE. 


245 


tricity have caused a great increase in the injuries, and 
deaths from the above mentioned sources. The explosion 
of kerosene oil lamps is one of daily occurrence and few 
families exist in those parts of the country where gas is 
not common, that have not in some manner suffered from 
the explosions consequent upon its use. 

The burning from kerosene is especially Jbad. The ex¬ 
plosion of a lamp containing it throws a large quantity over 
the persons exposed; perhaps upon a child sleeping like a 
blooming cherub in his cradle, saturating his clothes, and 
burning with a pertinacity unequaled. It is hard to 
smother its flames, and it burns until it is entirely consum¬ 
ed and the result is deep burning, sometimes charring the 
flesh in its unrestrained fury. 

The first efforts are to be exerted to putting out the fire, 
a not easy task, as unless completely submerged or stifled, 
the flame is not extinguished, and even then the oil floats 
upon any water that has been used on the surface, and 
burns all the same. 

But once extinguished, the next duty is to place the 
injured one in a proper situation, and then to remove all 
adherent clothing. 

If a person is scalded by steam or hot water, the clothes 
remaining uninjured are easily stripped off, and with the 
aid of a pair of scissors and cutting freely may be removed 
with little additional suffering to the individual, although 
large strips of skin, and the underlying integument may 
come off at the same time. 

When the person is burnt however, there is more difficulty, 
as parts of the clothing are burnt into the flesh, and adhere 
with so much pertinacity, as to render it unadvisable to 
tear them off. They must be cut away from the remain¬ 
der of the clothing and left adhering as they are, till soft¬ 
ened by the applications, and till the slough to which they 


246 


OUR CHILDREN. 


are attached is disconnected from tlie body by the process 
of healing. 

This duty is not easily performed when the child is very 
young, as it struggles against any action which seem to 
aggravate, even temporally, its pains. 

If the injury is limited in extent—say to a hand or foot, 
jt may perhaps be healed without sending for a physician ; 
after having removed all that is adherent, it must be 
covered so that the air cannot get to it. If the skin re¬ 
mains, do not attempt to remove it, for no application 
that art can make is equal to this natural one. 

The best application that we can make is composed of 
an equal portion of lime-water and sweet-oil, which makes 
a bland, thick, tenacious liniment, which does not easily 
flow off. Lime-water is made simply by stirring a lump 
of lime with water, and allowing it to stand till clear. 
It will not be too strong with any quantity of lime, as the 
water will only dissolve a certain amount. 

When this liniment is made, cover the downy side of a 
piece of canton flannel of sufficient size with the fluid, and 
cover the entire burn with it. The dressing need not be 
removed for twelve hours, and then repeated. The bum 
does not require much washing unless very offensive, which 
it is not likely to be for several days, as the lime is a disin¬ 
fectant, and the matter which covers it is a necessity in the 
process of healing. 

The intensity of the pain is often so great, that our first 
efforts must be given to relieving it. If chloroform is 
within reach, we should give this by inhalation, till the 
sharpness of the agony is overcome. If the burning is 
very extensive, a tea-spoonful may be placed upon a hand¬ 
kerchief and inhaled, watching the effect with care, and 
removing it to some distance from the nostrils so as to ad¬ 
mit some air to the lungs, or entirely withdrawing it, as 


RELIEF FROM PAIN. 


247 


may be necessary. There is little danger while one is in 
this tortured condition, of doing any injury with it, as the 
intensity of the pain will overcome any ordinary quantity 
of the chloroform. 

If however, any anaesthetic is not within reach, recourse 
must be had to laudanum, paregoric, or even spirit of any 
kind, till relief is obtained. 

It is an axiom in medicine, that if a third of the skin is 
stript off, death is certain; not, probably, immediately; 
but that nature is not capable of renewing the skin to 
such an extent, without exhaustion. If there be such an 
extent of damage, it is but simple humanity to arrest the 
jpain before death is hastened by its intensity. 

Take especial care as the healing commences, to keep the 
fingers stretched out, so that they do not become contracted 
by the scars; and separated from one another, that they 
may not grow together in the process of healing, by strips 
of lint or cotton, saturated with the same liniment. 

As soon as possible, after the new skin is formed, and 
before it gets hardened and undistensible, move the joints 
in their natural manner, especially if there be any tenden¬ 
cy to stiffness. 

If there be any marked contraction of the fingers, apply 
whalebone strips, or bands of india rubber, or ordinary 
splints, in such a way as the case may suggest to your mind, 
with the aim in view to counteract the unnatural distortion, 
and to keep up a persistent pressure and tension upon 
them, so as to cause the yet imperfect adesions to be ab¬ 
sorbed, and the unnatural rigidity to be overcome. 

To do all this, will require some resolution on the part 
of the parent, inasmuch as it will probably be met with 
some opposition on the part of the child. 

It is in sickness however, that the value of a proper 
“ bringing up ” of a child really tells. If you have been a 


248 


OUR CHILDREN. 


namby-pamby, sentimental parent, that has not obtained by 
a proper government of your child the respect of his in¬ 
tellect, the due appreciation of your superiority, and “that 
perfect love which driveth out fear,”—if your child is his 
own master, and your master too, then you will fail to do 
your work, your child will grow up deformed and maimed, 
and every time you look at his distorted fingers, his with¬ 
ered arm, his crooked neck; every time that you “ wish 
your child could run about like other boys,” that your girl 
might dance or play the piano, or hold herself upright 
like her associates—at all these periods, for the whole of 
their and your subsequent life, if you are half a man, or 
half a woman, you will have qualms of conscience, and 
thrills through the heart, and vain regrets, and useless 
wishes, that you had not in season been true to yourself, 
and honest and just to them. Solomon’s text, that “he 
who loveth a child cliastiseth ” had more meaning, in the 
powerful old Hebrew tongue, than merely laying a stick 
in anger over his back. He who loveth his child will 
not fear to cause him to undergo some temporary pain when 
the result is so important as the avoidance of a life-long cause 
of shame. 

This is not all; but those far worse deformities of mind 
and temper, which the brooding of disappointed ambitions 
or a naturally morbid temper create, are far more to be 
shunned. Had Byron tw T o perfectly-shapen feet and limbs, 
instead of that deformity over which he uselessly brooded, 
we might have seen a very different man; and those glori¬ 
ous works of genius wdiich are the deathless monument of 
the strength and beauty of the English tongue, and the 
records of vivid imagination, would not have been deformed 
by the expressions of irreligious, and most objectionable 
imagery of various kinds. Then his wild witchery might 
have been safely placed with Milton, Coleridge, Shelley, and 


THE DEMANDS OF THE BODY . 


249 


Campbell, into the hands of all, and the youth of the world 
might safely have drawn inspiration from this, one of the 
largest streams that has yet flowed from Helicon. Alas! 
that this turbid rill, brilliantly as it flows in its flashing 
strength, must be filtered, and its spirit deadened, ere it 
can be quaffed by the young mind. 

As I have previously intimated generally, and perhaps 
positively stated, the health exerts an influence over the 
powers of the mind, almost as great, certainly as marked, 
as over the strength of the body. 

The glorious reformation of the religious ideas of the 
old Christian church, has been recognizably marred by 
the dyspeptic gnawings which soured the heart of the great 
thinker, and introduced elements in his renowned work, 
that produced undreamt of discord, and which were with 
difficulty and after great trouble eliminated and rejected. 

This discussion is especially pertinent here, for par¬ 
ents should see how fraught with ill to body and mind, 
and soul, are the apparently trivial neglects in the culture 
of the body and of the stomach of the young. Children 
cannot have any part of them neglected with impunity. 
The child is a complex body, and each part depends upon, 
is intimately connected with, and its development or neg¬ 
lect and injury, affect every other part. 

Some mothers think all of their duty is to wash the faces, 
comb the hair, and appropriately dress their children. 
Some fathers imagine all they have to do, is to put food 
upon the table before them. We endeavor to show in the 
various parts of this work that the three grand elements of 
a child’s nature are all to be separately and conjunctively 
attended to, and that their triad nature—body, mind, and 
soul—may be each properly developed and blended, in 
sweet harmony, into one perfect whole. 

And in this connection one thought forces itself into ex- 
11 * 


250 


OUR CHILDREN. 


pression—the compensations which are created, developed, 
bestowed by Providence for any great loss or deprivation. 

COMPENSATIONS FOR GREAT DEPRIVATIONS. 

We see it all around us in the world. A devastating fire 
sweeps away the house of an individual, or the wealth of a 
city; a pestilence taketh away the parent from a family of 
helpless, dependent children; war puts a cruel bullet 
through the brave heart of a father; or a city or nation is 
equally swept away—how the human heart is touched by 
misfortune ! how sympathy is evoked in every human heart 
around ! See the divinity of our God-given human nature 
aroused! The beating heart, the helping hand, all around, 
respond instinctively, and are not content till the grief is 
assuaged, and the loss, as far as may be possible, made up. 

We see the same, yes, far greater compensation, in the 
losses sustained by the individual. It is commonly recog¬ 
nized that the remaining senses are heightened by the 
injury to, or deprivation of one. That to the blind, unusual 
powers of hearing are bestowed. To the deaf, acute and 
rapid observation makes up for the loss. Fewer however, 
have noted how the loss of the powers of the body conduce 
to the development of the spirit. The loss of a leg, or an 
arm, turns the fiery, impetuous temper of a soldier into gen¬ 
tleness and peace. That fancied superiority, and imaginary 
independence of the world and its opinions, is shown to 
have been vain, and his after life evinces the moral growth 
after the physical pruning, as we see fruits in our orchard 
increased and sweetened by the lopping off of a limb. 

But the most marked evidence of the benefits to the 
whole character, is seen in those early afflicted by that 
disease of lingering suffering, commonly known as white 
swelling, and usually originating from some accident. 

What angelic serenity! What beatific gentleness and 







MORAL BEAUTY THE RESULT OF PAIN. 


251 


love ! Wliat a mild radiance pervading the whole being 
of one of those thus afflicted! Those days and nights, 
those weeks and months, of persistent agony have purified 
the whole nature, have seemingly eliminated every grain of 
gross alloy, and left but the fine gold, purified as by fire. 

I never enter into the presence of one of these “ deform¬ 
ed transformed,’’ into a vision as of heaven’s purity and 
beauty come down to earth, but what I feel that the com¬ 
pensations are not limited to the mere physical strengthen¬ 
ing of other kindred organs and faculties; but that this 
baptism of pain and privation has regenerated the individ¬ 
ual’s whole nature, and that as the physical creature has 
been weakened and destroyed, the spiritual being, in hum¬ 
ble, submissive resignation to the loss which it has sus¬ 
tained, has been nurtured and strengthened by resignation, 
and beautified by the chastening, made but a little lower 
than the angels, and seemingly wanting but their cerulean 
pinions to wing their joyous way to more congenial 
spheres, where both sufferings, and their scars, are forgotten, 
rendered invisible, and renounced, as the mere scaffoldings 
by which they have mounted unto heaven. 


CHAPTER XYI. 


CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 

T HERE are quite a large class of diseases which are 
called Eruptive Fevers by the older nosologists. It 
embraces Small Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Chicken Pox, 
etc. These complaints are sometimes congregated under 
the name of children’s diseases; not that they belong exclu¬ 
sively to children, but that they, with the exception of 
Small Pox, are usually “gone through with” in the early 
years. They are most of them highly contagious, and some 
of them also infectious. 

By contagious is meant, that they are communicated 
from one to another by actual contact of a person with 
another person affected with the disease, or with his cloth¬ 
ing infected by his wearing them, or by going into a room 
recently occupied by him. Infectious means that the at¬ 
mosphere for a considerable distance is so affected that 
very many, but not all, of those that enter into it, take the 
epidemic disease. 

To make this perfectly plain, I will give two extreme 
examples. The itch is simply contagious. It is commu. 
nicated solely by immediate contact with the person or 
clothing of one affected. Yellow Fever is in no manner 
contagious, but the air of a certain locality—be it a room, 
the hold of a ship, or a city—becomes impregnated by its 
subtile influence, and those who go into this locality are 
liable to be seized by it. If then, any one be stricken with 
the disease, and either living or dying, goes into a perfectly 


CONTAGIOUSNESS OF SMALL FOX. 


253 


salubrious locality, he does not communicate it to any one. 
All of these diseases have very marked epidemic character¬ 
istics, having seasons of marked prevalence. 

SMALL POX. 

This is the most fearful of all these contagious diseases, 
because excessively fatal in itself, disgusting to the highest 
degree in its manifestations and hideous in its results, pro¬ 
ducing great deformity, which never disappears, but remains 
with life an evidence of its former presence. 

Small Pox infects the air of a house and its surroundings 
to a certain, indeterminable distance, a length which is in¬ 
creased by favorable circumstances, by a dense atmosphere, 
a favoring wind, and the like. It is markedly communica¬ 
ble by the clothing of the individual, and for quite a 
prolonged period after the disease has passed away. It is 
even alleged that a burial for several years has failed to 
entirely eradicate the slumbering ashes of contagion. Some 
of the royal family of Germany are reported to have caught 
this dire disease from a visit to the ancestral tombs, (as 
was the habit in past times, when any princes married into 
a foreign land) and where no one had been buried for at 
least a year. 

The general primary symptoms of all these eruptive 
diseases do not essentially differ, and until the special 
eruption appears, it is impossible to tell what may be the 
coming disease, except as maybe surmised, from the known 
exposure, or the actual epidemic then prevalent in the 
country. They all commence with chills, rigors, intense 
headache, great fever, and, usually, prostration. There is 
often, and more generally in children, one or more convul¬ 
sions, and these often followed by persistent stupidity, or 
coma. 

These initial symptoms are to be treated simply as symp- 


254 


OUR CHILDREN. 


toms and assuaged as may be possible, with no immediate 
reference to the supposed causative complaint. If there 
be headache or convulsions, cold to the head, hot foot 
baths; the fever should be alleviated by aconite (a drop 
of the tincture every hour) and if thought needed, by 
some mild cathartic. 

Most especially it is to be constantly and fully borne in 
mind, that none of these diseases are curable. If one actu¬ 
ally has the disease, he will continue to have it until the 
disease runs its full course, and disappears of itself. Med¬ 
icines cannot hurry it or diminish it; it has a course, a 
self-limitation, and this cannot be arrested or materially 
interfered with, unless with the penalty of death. 

Usually, children when seized with these complaints are 
dull and “ dummy ” for a day or two before being appar¬ 
ently sick, refuse food, are cross and fretful, or quiet and 
stupid; sometimes have some cough of a dry character; the 
eyes red, watery, suffused. The fever gradually increases 
with evident rigors and exacerbations. 

The doctor is sent for about this time, and he cannot 
tell what is the matter, but enquires what diseases the 
child has had, thinks of those then prevalent, and orders 
some mild medicine, and says by to-morrow it will be evi¬ 
dent what the especial complaint is. Perhaps before that 
time convulsions are present. The effort is then to bring 
the disease out upon the skin, where it more especially 
belongs. 

Formerly, through a dread of catching cold, and so “driv¬ 
ing in the eruption ” the room was kept at an intense heat; 
whether in summer or winter, every window and door was 
not only kept closed, but every crack and crevice was pad¬ 
ded, and even the key-hole stopped up, lest a breath of 
fresh air could come into the room, reeking with the foulest 
of odors. Every drop of drink, that was given was warm, 
and the quantity exceedingly sparing. 


DESCRIPTION OF TIIE SMALL POX. 255 

How entirely changed is it now. The first effort is to 
keep the the room well-aired, and moderately cool; the 
next is to make the patient as comfortable as possible, re¬ 
lieving the fever by cooling drinks, even iced, but admin¬ 
istered in moderate quantities, although with considerable 
frequency. The skin may even be occasionally bathed in 
tepid water, and the system generally cooled by saturnine 
laxatives. 

After some days of sickness, gradually getting worse 
and worse, there will be found a greater or less number of 
reddish spots appearing upon the face; sometimes so thick¬ 
ly as scarcely to be counted, in others, less frequent. If the 
finger is placed upon them, even at their earliest appear¬ 
ance, the delicate touch will recognize a slight elevation 
of these points, and every six hours will show a rapid in¬ 
crease in them, and they soon feel like shot, of a gradually 
increasing size, under the skin. 

If one has ever watched a case of small pox, and has 
ordinary perceptive powers, there can be no mistake. 
These spots from their incipiency are diagnostic, and there 
is no room for mistake. They may indeed be overlooked 
in the darkness of a secluded room, or an evening dim 
light, but the next visit will surely make the character of 
the disease evident. 

These eruptions are rounded upon the top, and circular 
in shape, growing gradually larger and flatter, spreading 
out till they run into one another. If very thick together, 
as they increase in size they become flatter and flatter, 
till finally almost cupped, and the centre is marked by a 
shade, at first looking like a shadow, even before attaining 
its maximum size,—then as the wane commences, growing 
darker and darker, the brown spot evidently shows that it 
is commencing to dry up from this central point. From 
the first appearance, to the falling off of the first scab, is 
from two to three weeks. 


256 


OUR CHILD REX. 


Some will divide everything by seven, and give seven 
days from the appearance, seven for its presence, and as 
many for its decadence. Nature however, has no such 
mystic numbers, although it may be considered that the 
disease, when it goes through its entire course, takes, from 
three w r eeks to a month’s time. 

The severity of the disease depends upon the number 
of pustules thrown out, as each destroys a portion of the 
skin; each has a certain amount of matter discharged, 
exhausting in its effects upon the health and constitution. 
When the pustules are so numerous as to unite together, 
the disease is called confluent. The surface is then one 
continuous scab, with numerous cracks, through which the 
pus exudes of a foul nature and most disgusting odor, so 
much so, that its emanations may be observed by the olfac¬ 
tories, even before entering the house where it may be. 

In some cases there is more or less blood mixed with the 
material discharges, which drying, leaves a dark crust, and 
thence comes the name of the black small pox, which is 
supposed to be and is of an unusually formidable character, 
because showing a general debile condition of the system. 

Treatment. As already said, there is no use to attempt to 
cure this disease, as it must run its course. Our efforts 
will be limited to keeping the patient alive through the 
exhausting course of the complaint. This is not an easy 
matter, inasmuch as the same eruption observed upon the 
skin, is also present upon the tongue, throat, and following 
the track of the stomach and bowels is also apparent upon 
their surface and the exterior of the viscera within the ab¬ 
domen. 

With the stomach in such a condition, we find great dif¬ 
ficulty in persuading the patient to take any nourishment, 
stimulants, or even drink. Still our efforts, must not be 
intermitted in this direction, and recognizing the excessive 


TREATMENT OF SMALL POX. 


257 


exlianstion of the system, from so great a destruction of 
tenure, we must endeavor to provide against it by all the 
nourishments of syrups, and jellies that we can persuade the 
patient to take. 

The greatest relief will be obtained by bathing the sur¬ 
face with tepid water, removing the discharges that may 
be poured out, and allaying the excessive itching by inunc¬ 
tions with cold cream (made of spermaciti and sweet oil 
appropriately flavored) or, as sometimes found exceedingly 
grateful, with the fat of bacon. The relief is probably due 
to the creasote in it, and a wash of carbolic acid water will 
probably be full as useful. 

The difference between the variola (small pox) and vari¬ 
oloid (or kine pox) is apparently but in intensity. Vacci¬ 
nation consists in taking the lymph from a peculiar sore 
found on the udders of kine, and inserting it under the 
skin of a healthy human being. There results a mild 
febrile condition, and a sore where the matter was inserted, 
much resembling the small pox vesicle in general appear¬ 
ance, but materially larger. 

The effect lasts but for a limited period, and that a very 
uncertain one. Formerly it was supposed to last forever, 
but now it is ascertained that it almost always runs out ? 
sometimes entirely, and then a person exposed to the 
disease will as surely take it, as if not vaccinated, and the 
appearance of the disease, and its dangers, are little, if any¬ 
thing, less than if not previously vaccinated; but if the 
vaccination was later, and a shorter time has elapsed, or its 
influence but partially gone, then the disease is markedly 
milder, the eruptions less deep, and consequently there is 
less permanent disfiguration. 

The scars are two-fold in their character. One is simply 
a redness of a deep purple-red color which lasts for several 
months, showing when the blood is heated and fading away 


258 


OUR CHILDREN. 


till almost imperceptible, on ordinary occasions. This is 
seen whether or not there is any depression on the skin. 
But where the ulcer has eaten through the true skin (cutis 
vera) a scar is a necessity. There can be no cut, or tear, or 
destruction of this tissue of any sort, or from any cause, 
which does not leave its indelible trace. If the ulcer of 
the variola has gone through this tissue, the mark is ever 
after apparent. 

We hear much of this disease having been present, and 
with no marking. This can never happen unless the 
disease is very superficial. We do sometimes see confluent 
varioloid, and then, extensive as has been the disease, it is 
limited in depth and no pitting perhaps is present. All 
the smearing, the pricking of the pustules, the injection of 
them with iodine, nitrate of silver, and the like, smearing 
them with oil, ointments of any and all kinds—this is all 
useless, as a preventative of disfigurement. More than that, 
in those severe cases where the danger of pitting seems 
imminent, there is also imminent danger to the life of the 
sufferer. With death staring you in the face, it is the 
seemingly, height of folly, to get down to paint, prick, and 
dress pustules upon a face that seems every moment will 
be assuredly mouldering under the daisies in a very few 
days time. 

After the first coarse scab lias fallen off, the surface be¬ 
neath is tender, and illy bears the cold air upon it. Great 
care is necessary to guard against exposure and the dangers 
of lung fever, etc., afterward. Several thinner scabs and 
efflorescent particles will be thrown off, before the skin has 
settled down to its natural quietude. 

Whether the disease was variola or varioloid can only be 
told with absolute certainty, now that the smoothness of 
the face tells us, for the mild cases of the genuine disease 
are easily supposed to be severe cases of the medipid 


ER UPTIVE DISEA SES. 


259 


disease, unless there is a family record telling whether or 
not the person ill has had the disease previously. 

It is only in comparatively rare instances that one has 
the disease a second time, yet unquestionable cases to 
the contrary are daily brought to view. 

If, after the feverish condition of the child, already de¬ 
scribed as ushering in the various acute exanthematous 
diseases, a generally suffused redness of the surface appears, 
characterized by a more general redness than the spotting 
mentioned as preluding the eruption of small pox; if there 
is a general red mottled appearance of the skin, without 
any shot-like pustules felt under the skin, we may set it 
down as one of three acute eruptive diseases, viz., scarlet 
fever, measles, and roseola. 

In well-marked, fully characterized cases, it is very easy 
to distinguish these diseases from one another; but where 
the distinguishing features are illy defined we have great 
difficulty, and even the most expert diagnostician in skin 
disease, can but guess wdiich of the complaints is present. 
To determine this, we have to add to the appearances of 
the case, a knowledge of the prevailing epidemic, any espe¬ 
cial exposure of the child, and whether it has already had 
at any previous period any one of these diseases. This 
latter point is sometimes our only guide, and even this is 
not infallible, for in rare instances one may have these 
complaints a second time. 

Sometimes it is only when the disease has run its course 
completely that we may judge by the sequence of the 
symptoms, and their character, that it is one or the other 
of them. In more unmarked cases, we shall not be able to 
tell with certainty till another child in the family has been 
affected more markedly, or till an exposure to a subsequent 
epidemic shows an immunity from one or the other of 
these diseases. 


260 


OUR CHILDREN. 


ROSEOLA 

is the mildest form of all these symptoms. It consists 
in a simple redness of the skin, a mild rash of a rose color, 
appearing in patches of irregular shape, without any pim¬ 
ples or perceptible elevation of the skin. This disease 
is generally considered not contagious, but I am sure that 
I have seen forms of it which were most markedly so. 

There are other forms of it noticed in children, and 
especially in excitable females. Some girls when kissed, or 
excited by anger, will have a blush spread over the face? 
neck, and bosom, of a vivid rose color, with quite defined 
border, and so sharp as to give an appearance of elevation 
above the skin. It is also very often seen on teething chil¬ 
dren. These latter forms are temporary, and have no 
contagious characteristics. 

The principle interest which this disease has, so mild 
and unimportant is it, is its liability to lead to mistakes in 
diagnosis. Such temporary troubles, which never need 
more than a cooling, saline laxative, are seized upon by 
unprincipled men who profess to cure scarlet fever in two 
or three days, and without any secondary symptoms. 

MEASLES 

is a more formidable disease, but it is very apt to be con¬ 
sidered but little more than a cold, and the majority of the 
cases are healed domestically—generally too vigorously— 
and without recourse to professional advice. Sometimes 
it is quite a serious malady. Many remember its fatality 
in the camps about Washington; most of the soldiers there 
were from the interior of New England, from the back- 
w r oods and distant mountains, where there was little com¬ 
munication with the exterior world, and where on that 
account, this disease had not visited. Consequently, there 
were whole regiments of brawny soldiers who had never 
had these diseases of childhood. 


MEASLES. 


261 


Measles is not a pleasant or a simple disease for an adult 
to have, and in this case there was great exposure, improp¬ 
er food for the sick, poor nursing. For a period the fight¬ 
ing force was seriously impaired, and many died. The 
complications with pulmonary inflammations, and typhoid 
tendencies, are very common with adults, sick with this 
complaint. 

But a severe case of measles is a very serious affliction 
even in a child. For several days that child has been 
drooping, and seemingly has taken a severe cold; there is 
great redness and suffusion of the eyes, a catarrhal secre¬ 
tion from the nose, cough, and these acute symptoms, ac¬ 
companied by fever, loss of appetite, pains in back, head, 
legs &c. 

These symptoms are allayed by treatment—the fever by 
a drop of the Tincture of Aconite, every hour; the cough, by 
a tea-spoonful every two or three hours, of a mixture of equal 
parts of the Syrup of Squills, Syrup of Ipecac, and the 
Camphorated Tincture of Opium. This also, wfill soothe 
the restlessness, and keep the child from fretting. 

After a day or two of this uneasy condition, a bright 
rash is discovered upon the face, and soon after, upon the 
lower extremities of the body, and finally all over the 
person. Now comes the difficulty in deciding what is the 
disease present. It differs but slightly from scarlet rash, 
and still less from roseola, already described. Of course, 
if the doctor knows that next door the measles is present, 
he will look wisely at it through his most wonderful and 
very learned gold spectacles, and boldly say, before scarce 
a blotch is perceptible, “ It is the measles.” But if he 
knows of no such affection any where about, he will look 
more or less solemn and wise, but he will look a little more 
carefully. 

He will look at the fine red points, which characterize 


262 


OUR CHILDREN. 


the eruption, and more especially for groupings of a semi¬ 
circular, crescentic character. These are not very numer¬ 
ous, but, sparcely distributed over the arm or body, a more 
or less number may be found. A single group is sufficient 
upon which to form a diagnosis, if it is well-marked. 

The rash generally is of a darker color than roseola, but 
less so than the scarlet rash. In the shade of color, it has 
a strawberry hue. But all these shades and niceties which 
distinguish the type cases, are immaterial in ordinary ones, 
as each disease assumes various hues. The “ black mea¬ 
sles ” has a dark, mahogany hue, from an admixture of 
purpura in connection with it, constituting a very grave 
condition of things, one of great danger, and requiring 
quite a different form of treatment from that employed 
in ordinary simple measles. 

Measles generally manifests itself by sneezing, and 
catarrhal symptoms, about fourteen days after exposure. 
From then, until the eruption is manifest, is four days 
more; and four days to a week additional is required until 
desquamation—or its recession, and the falling of the dead, 
scurfy skin. 

From the appearance of the eruption, the symptoms 
generally moderate materially. Some cough remains, not 
unfrequently, and, especially in winter season, it is very apt 
to leave the lungs delicate, especially liable to taking on 
slight inflammation. In adults of a weakly constitution^ 
or any inherited tendencies to phthisis there is great liability 
to a deposit of tubercles in the lungs, as a secondary result 
of the measles. In others the kidneys are seized with 
acute inflammation, and this subsiding, a chronic form of 
disease sometimes supervenes. On this account, children 
require especial watching, guarding against any undue ex¬ 
posure, but not to such an extent as to keep them in the 
house, or away from their usual sports. After a month’s 


SCARLET FEVER. 


263 


time has elapsed after convalescence, and the child has been 
out, and at school, no further danger need be looked for. 

SCARLET FEVER. 

We come now to look at one of the most formidable, un¬ 
certain and disagreeable diseases that afflict childhood, or 
humanity. Eminently contagious, very deadly, one that 
in its ouset may be like a thunder blast, and subsequently 
mild and gentle, passing away without leaving a trace, and 
without the slightest cause of anxiety for any after troubles; 
in another case, commencing almost unnoticably, scarcely 
making the patient even indisposed, it assumes new symp¬ 
toms, attacks remote organs, disappears, reappears, is one 
moment apparently gone, cured,—in a day or two after, a 
sudden death, or a lingering form of disease remains to 
show that it is but “ skotched,” not killed. 

SCARLATINA, 

Scarlet-fever , Scarlet-rash are different names, given to 
the same disease. It commences as the other diseases 
already alluded to, in many instances, and cannot, as al¬ 
ready intimated, be told from them in many cases. Still, 
in others there is no doubt of the character of the disease; 
the premonitory symptoms are far more grave and severe 
than roseola, or measles, and the character of the eruption 
speedily dissipates any doubt whether or not it is a vario¬ 
lous disease or varicella—chicken pox,—which will be 
described at some length hereafter. 

The eruption evinces very surely the character of the 
disease. This is a bright scarlet in hue, w r ith no such erup¬ 
tive form as appears in measles, but simply a general scar¬ 
let reddening of the skin. This, with all the symptoms of 
fever already described, but intensified and magnified gen¬ 
erally. Sometimes indeed, there is no external eruption, 


264 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tlie first symptom being a complete prostration, the child 
being seized with a'convulsion which remains persistent 
and has no let up, until in a state of profound coma, the 
patient sinks and dies in from twenty-four to forty-eight 
hours. This is blood poisoning, and is almost without a 
remedy. To be sure, we can try, and do sometimes suc¬ 
ceed in bringing out the eruptions upon the surface by 
stimulants, the warm bath, hot teas, among which saffron 
has a popular repute. Not unfrequently, our best efforts 
are thwarted, and we are forced to see one so lately, blithe 
and gay, in a very few hours, or at most, days, dead and 
buried. The epidemics of this disease differ very much in 
malignancy, sometimes being exceedingly fatal, and at 
others comparatively quite innocuous. 

Some writers, with scarcely any show of reason, divide 
the disease into Scarlatina Simplex, Anginosa, and Ma¬ 
ligna ; but there is no difference in the disease, as' we often 
see in the same family, aye, even side by side in the same 
bed and room, a whole family variously sick with these 
separate forms of supposed diverse diseases, but in reality 
only the same single disease in different manifestations. 

SCARLATINA SIMPLEX 

is a mild form; the eruption appears, and, perhaps, departs, 
and the patient is well in a week’s time. For a day or 
two, there may be some fever, itching, and loss of appetite, 
and then nothing more is seen of it. The treatment is 
almost nothing; the case should be watched that new sym- 
torns may not arise, and the disease suddenly and unexpect¬ 
edly assume a malignant form. The itching may be allay¬ 
ed by smearing the skin with any oily ointment, or by 
rubbing the irritated portion with a bacon rind. 

Even in the mildest case, we must watch and see that 
dropsy does not supervene, before recovery is entirely 


SCARLATINA. 


265 


effected. The internal organs are as much affected by this 
disease, as is the skin, and in the mildest cases, we are 
more apt to see internal inflammatory affections of the 
glandular system, of the liver, and more commonly of the 
kidneys. This is evidence of a more or less complete 
stoppage of the water, and a consequent tumefaction 
of the belly, limbs, and face; sometimes indeed, there is 
no portion of the frame that is not tumefied, enlarged, and 
full of dropsical effusion. Some suppose that this is the 
result of exposure of the child to a draught of wind, while 
the kidneys are yet suffering from the inflammatory action 
of the disease proper. It is indeed very apt to follow a 
check in the action of the skin; the insensible perspiration 
which constitutes so large a portion of the aqueous secre¬ 
tions of the system, is in consequence thrown back upon 
the kidneys. These organs, being in an excitable and de¬ 
bilitated condition, are illy able to perform this increased 
duty, and the result is an accumulation in the system of 
fluid. 

When this state of things takes place, the first efforts 
are to restore the lost function to the skin ; the second, to 
reduce the congested state of the kidneys, and to stimulate 
them to a temporarily increased exertion. The first aim is 
accomplished, if possible, by a generally increased tempera¬ 
ture. The child should be kept warm, not so much by 
covering it with extra clothes, but by placing it in a warm 
atmosphere. We may anticipate the coming Spring by 
taking the child south, and gradually returning with it. 

This is not always possible. We must then keep it 
in a warm house, or room, so that there shall be no possi¬ 
ble chill from passing from one room to another, and the 
temperature should be kept up to, or a little above 
seventy-five degrees, so that the skin may be thus induced 
to resume its normal function. 

12 


266 


OUR CHILL REN.\ 


Tlie local difficulty in the kidneys should be met with 
irritating friction over the lumbar regions, so as to divert 
the stasis of the blood from these organs to the surface. 

An examination of the urine passed by a child thus 
affected, will show a large proportion of albumen, so much 
so that on boiling it carefully, in a test tube, or in a silver 
spoon over the gas, it will sometimes be found to solidify 
like the white of an egg. 

This condition of the urine is a symptom of Bright’s 
disease of the Kidneys, but it is not that formidable dis¬ 
ease*. Still, when we find the albumen in such immense 
quantities, the condition of the patient is serious, and we 
cannot look upon him without inquietude. It is, however, 
very far from the case that the trouble is a desperate one. 
In fact, the great proportion of these cases recover from 
this form and final manifestation of the Scarlatina influ¬ 
ence, when carefully nursed under judicious direction. 

Internally, the treatment has a double purpose; 1st, To 
neutralize the temporary effects of the impurity of the 
blood ; for while the kidneys excrete a very small quantity, 
that is filled with the albumen, the nutritious quality of the 
blood, it fails to eliminate the urea, the impure and delite- 
rius element, from which comes the name of urine, and 
which, retained in the blood, exerts a poisonous, and nox¬ 
ious influence, producing the stupor, and sometimes the 
coma found in these cases. This result is obtained by giv¬ 
ing salts, which by their chemical affinities, neutralize or 
destroy this element. The various forms of potash, and 
more especially the Bromide, exert a beneficial influence, 
Chloroform, either by inhalation, or by swallowing, has the 
repute of somewhat effecting the same result. 

2ndly, The kidneys are to be stimulated to increased 
secretion. This is to be done carefully, as the diseased 
organs cannot well bear any severe irritation. 


SCARLATINA ANGINOSA. 


267 


Syrup of Squills will thus form a good medium through 
which to administer the potash, or chloroform. We may 
also advantageously give the child diluents, hot drinks of 
flax-seed, which at the same time will stimulate the skin to 
increased results. The Tincture of Aconite, as before 
ordered, will also assist in the diaphoresis. 

In matters of general food, there need not be any very 
especial attention, only with a general aim to healthy nutri¬ 
tion. Eggs, in various forms, will seem to replace the lost 
albumen, but there need be no stress laid upon it. 

SCARLATINA ANGINOSA 

is a form of disease where the eruptive symptoms form but 
a trivial and unimportant portion of the complaint. Many 
years ago an epidemic ran through New England popularly 

called SCARLET FEVER AND THROAT DISTEMPER. This Was 

the form called Anginosa. The disease sometimes was the 
ordinary eruptive fever, and in others, scarcely any super¬ 
ficial eruption, but a great amount of disease in the throat; 
and a third form where the patient had both, in a greater 
or less degree. It was then supposed that there were two 
distinct diseases, and that having one did not procure ex¬ 
emption from the other. I certainly knew one or two 
instances where, in a subsequent epidemic, those having 
one or the other, and quite severely too, took the disease 
in its other form, a second time. 

In scarlatina anginosa there is sometimes scarcely 
enough eruption upon the surface to make the disease 
recognizable; but the affection of the throat is exceedingly 
severe. Commencing with a more or less severe sore 
throat, apparently the result of a simple cold, it gradually 
increases in redness, pain, swelling, till finally the functions 
of the throat seem almost entirely suspended. Examina¬ 
tion shows the throat ulcerated deeply, the tonsils swollen, 


26S 


OUR CHILDREN. 


and the passages to the lungs and stomach so obstructed 
that respiration is difficult, and the act of deglutition, or 
swallowing, almost impossible. Were this to continue for 
a prolonged period, one would perish from starvation ; but 
relief, or death from some other affection comes before any 
such result is possible. 

The discharges from the glands of the throat, and the 
secretions from the ulcerated surfaces are so offensive that 
the name of “putrid sore-throat ” is sometimes given to 
the disease. 

This form of the disease is frequently combined with 
other symptoms of a still more grave character, which be¬ 
long more especially to the species embraced in the name 
of scarlatina maligna, a disease from which a physician 
shrinks with more repugnance than from almost any 
other. 

Like a flash of lightning from a serene and cloudless 
sky, Malignant Scarlatina strikes down its victim in the 
flush of apparent health. Sometimes there is little differ¬ 
ence from the gradual approach of the simple disease; at 
others the child is seized by convulsions, which are repeat¬ 
ed with frightful rapidity, to be finally succeeded by a 
state of coma, wherein the patient lingers for many hours, 
and perhaps a day or two, with stertorous breathing, 
sometimes motionless, in others rolling from side to side 
in evident uneasiness, insensible to the presence of friends^ 
the requests or demands of nurses, and physicians, insen¬ 
sible to any appetites or demands of nature. 

During all this anxious, fearful period, there is no evi¬ 
dence of any Scarlatina eruption ; no knowledge that it is 
the disease in question, which is convulsing the patient; 
nothing to lend currency to this belief, except that there 
has been previous exposure. Sometimes we have not even 
this poor solace to our ^doubts, and can but surmise its la- 


SCARLATINA. 269 

tent presence, because but rarely such symptoms herald 
the coming of any other malady. 

Sometimes in spite of all our efforts, the patient dies in 
this initiative stage, from the congestion of the brain with 
the poisoned blood. Then we can often show to doubt¬ 
ers, that our diagnosis was correct, for after death, the 
mottled and changed appearance of the skin will show the 
scarlet eruption, darker indeed in hue from that which we 
see in life, but still such as to be perfectly recognizable to 
any one conversant with the malady. 

Sometimes our efforts are rewarded, and with a sudden 
and almost entire relief to the pressing symptoms, the fiery 
eruption manifests itself in one glowing hue over the entire 
surface. Such extraordinary intensity is accompanied by 
an almost unbearable itching, which with great difficulty is 
allayed. We fear to bathe the body with any cooling 
lotion, fearful of a retrocession of the eruption, which has 
been established with such great difficulty. We try various 
lotions, Lead ointment, Carbolic Acid ointment, Lotions 
of the Hydrocyanic Acid, and frequently with little avail. 
Small doses of morphia will often be of benefit, not so 
much in allaying the itching, as in rendering it bearable by 
benumbing the sensibilities. 

It is rare however, in Scarlatina, to have any trouble 
from cough. This, which is so annoying in measles, seems 
to be supplemented by the itching just referred to. 

It is after these symptoms have been to a great degree 
relieved, or have, in the order of things, passed away, that 
we have the great putridity coming on since the commence¬ 
ment, aggravated, and become really distressing, and seri¬ 
ous, in the diseased condition of the throat, referred to as 
demonstrated, when existing simply as Anginosa. We 
have already sufficiently described its leading characteristics. 

In the relief of this distressing symptom, our energies 


270 


OUR CHILDREN. 


are to be promptly directed. In children of the same age, 
or in those younger, who have been brought up by their 
parents to rely upon, and mind the instructions of their supe¬ 
riors,we may reap the benefit of this timely training, by teach¬ 
ing them to gargle their throats, or even to permit an 
application of some potent astringent, or caustic alterative, 
to be applied to the throat and fauces. These methods 
of treatment will give great relief. But it is a matter 
almost of impossibility, and then not without a severe strug¬ 
gle with the child, producing perhaps as much injury as 
the application will do good, that we can succeed in open¬ 
ing the mouth, and forcibly making use of the desired 
remedies topically. 

In no cases of sickness, more than in this, and croup, are the 
benefits of the education of the child, observed in obedi¬ 
ence to parents, a confidence in their desires to benefit, 
and that reliance in their efforts to cure them—a con¬ 
fidence only surpassed by that reliance, which the religious 
man shows in his absolute trust in the mercy of God.—It 
is perhaps now the difference between life and death, 
which hangs often on a mere thread. 

If a child has been thus trained to believe in his parents, 
to welcome the coming of a physician, confident in his 
powers, and exerted for his benefit, with gladness will he 
place himself in a position to get the best effects of the 
light, open his mouth, and permit such treatment as may 
be necessary; and he will understanding^ make use of 
any gargle to clear his ulcerated throat. 

In view of sickness, parents ought to teach their children 
by practicing with cold water, to gargle their throats, and 
thus disease will find a patient trained to use the arms to 
be employed against it. In the same way, by practicing 
with liuckle-berries, children may be taught to swallow 
pills, and thus, by this convenient manner of taking desired 


TREATMENT OF SCARLATINA . 


271 


medicines, they may avoid the unpleasant tastes and corro¬ 
sive acids found in medicines, which are otherwise obliged 
to be put in a liquid form. 

Among the gargles most useful in this complaint, is the 
ordinary yeast gargle, half yeast, and half water. One 
composed of equal parts of Tinct. of Galls, Tinct. of Myrrh, 
Tinct. of Cinchona, and Syrup of Orange Flowers, using a 
table-spoonful, more or less, in a tumbler of water. 

Perhaps the most efficacious, as slightly stimulating the 
parts, dissolving the depraved secretions, and thus “ cleans-* 
ing the ulcerations,” and especially in changing the offen¬ 
siveness of the putrid exhalation, is the Chlorate of Potash ; 
an ounce to a quart of water, or if this is too sharp for 
the inflamed throat, a smaller quantity of the salt will 
suffice, or additional water may be added. The throat may 
be gargled with this, beneficially every half, or quarter of 
an hour. 

With this condition of the throat, there is most gener¬ 
ally great glandular sympathies, swellings in the glands 
all over the body, Jbut more particularly in the ganglion 
about the neck. These will be so painful as to demand 
relief by local applications from poultices, from hot bags 
of salt, hops dipped in hot water, from Stramonium oint¬ 
ment &c. 

In the country, the leaves of the Datura stramonium, or 
Thorn Apple, commonly called Stink Weed, which grows 
every-where in the country, and whose thorn apples are 
eaten with such dangerous results by children; the leaves 
of this may be bruised and applied over the swollen glands 
sometimes with great relief. 

The inflammation of these glands not unfrequently goes 
on to suppuration, and large abscesses are formed under 
the chin, around the neck, some smaller ones breaking into 
the passage of the ears, and discharging through the 
meatus. 


272 


OUR CHILDREN. 


THE ABSCESSES IN THE EAR 

These are very annoying, giving great pain during their 
development, continuing to discharge an often offensive mat¬ 
ter for many months, defying.cure by any means, sometimes 
affecting the bones of the ear and the mastoid process, from 
which ulceration, an opening is effected into the cavity of 
the brain, and death results from this perforation. Some¬ 
times, indeed not unfrequently, permanent deafness results 
from this disease, and if the patient is quite young, the 
number of the deaf and dumb is thereby increased. 

The exhausting nature of this malignant form of the 
disease is such, that our earliest efforts must be to keep up 
the general tone of the system. Quinine and general ton¬ 
ics, cod-liver oil and pepsine, to aid the enfeebled digestive 
organs, with stimulants as soon as advisable, with milk 
punch, egg-nogg, schnapps, and the like, must be adminis¬ 
tered under suitable directions, as soon, and as freely as 
possible. 

After apparent recovery, the danger from secondary 
relapse already alluded to, is especially imminent, and the 
child must be constantly watched until two or three 
months have intervened since the last appearance of any 
symptom, as it re-appears in some form, with the persisten¬ 
cy of Dr. Bartolo in the Barber of Seville, with his never 
ending “ Buona Notte—good night, good bye,”—till you 
never know when you have seen the last of it. 

Measles leave a heritage of weak eyes, and delicate 
lungs—small pox, a marked skin, loss of complexion and 
beauty—scarlet fever, injury to the hearing, often perma¬ 
nent deafness, and the disfigurations which ensue as a 
consequence of the abscesses occurring in various localities. 

DYPIITHERIA. 

There is another disease, which may well be mentioned 


DYPHTHERIA . 


273 


in this connection, although it is in no respect a disease of 
the skin. 

It was my fortune to see some of the earliest cases 
that occurred in the country, and I reported them to the 
N. Y. Academy of Medicine, of which I was then an act¬ 
ive member. The first one I treated as Scarlet Fever, to 
which disease it bears a very close resemblance, that is, to 
the non-eruptive form of Scarlatina Maligna. It is a dis¬ 
ease, like the former, of the blood, affecting the whole sys¬ 
tem—depressing the vital forces, poisoning the blood, and 
creating plastic exudations that are thrown out in various 
localities of the mucous membrane. When this is marked¬ 
ly seen in the throat, it may be mistaken by careless 
observers for croup. 

Dyphtheriais an awful disease in its manifestations. 
When first seen in this city, something like ten years ago, 
it was invariably mistaken, in its commencement, for croup; 
and often under that supposition, treated with mercurials, 
depressant expectorants, and by leeching, or blood letting 
in some form. 

The result was very generally fatal, and markedly so in 
all severe cases. As soon as it was fully recognized as a 
distinct disease, and the treatment changed to a tonic, and 
stimulating one, a great change for the better was seen in 
the results. 

There is in the throat a marked exudation thrown out 
over the tonsils, fauces, and the entire passages of the 
mouth, sometimes, even on the mucous membrane lining 
the vulva of females, an exudation of a character strongly 
resembling the fibrous deposit in croup. There is addition¬ 
ally, even from quite the first, a sanious, unpleasant dis¬ 
charge from the nostrils, seemingly of an acrid character, 
for the interior of the nostrils seem excoriated, and this is 
to me, diagnostic of the disease. 

12 * 


274 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Looking into the throat, the whole mucous membrane 
is found covered, in severe cases, with a species of organ¬ 
ized lymph which extends way down into the ultimate 
bronchi, and materially interfering with respiration. This 
is often removed, in a very great measure by vomiting, 
by brushes, swabs, &c, but it is renewed with great rapid¬ 
ity- 

Great relief is afforded by these topical appliances, so 
marked, that annoying as it is, little children gladly sub¬ 
mit to, and even ask for the use of the swab, and a solution 
of nitrate of silver, from the evident relief afforded, as the 
respiration is manifestly improved for quite a period sub¬ 
sequently. 

No specific treatment has yet been discovered for the 
certain cure of this very fatal disease. The general reli¬ 
ance is upon a tonic, sustaining course of treatment, and 
topical applications to the throat by means of a long swab, 
as low down as possible, the returning brush bringing away 
large quanties of the Exudation. The Per-Sulphate of Iron 
in solution is given at the rate of four, to ten or fifteen 
drops every second hour, alternating every hour with a 
grain of Quinine in wine, or some stimulant. 

The patient should also be encouraged in any appetite 
that may be possessed. Any mercurial, or other alterative 
wdiich might seem to be called for, experience has plainly 
shown are deiiterious, and most surely hastens on the dis¬ 
ease to its final termination. Severe as are the local symp¬ 
toms, it must not be forgotten that the disease is a consti¬ 
tutional one, and the necessary measures for relief should 
be directed to the general exalting of the system, and 
reinvigoratiug the depraved blood. 

The contagious nature of this disease should not be for¬ 
gotten, as when it is once present in a family, few escape 
from some sympathy with it. Adults are not so liable to 
it as children, still they are far from being exempt. 


FUNERALS SPREAD CONTAGION. 


275 


An attending physician in a case where death was 
imminent from suffocation, performed the operation of 
tracheotomy, opening the air passage externally through 
the throat to remove the clots of fibrin, that stopped the 
passage and interfered with the breathing. Not being able 
to remove the blood from the cut, he carelessly put his 
mouth to the tube, and sucked out the clots. This act was 
fatal, for the contact of the diseased fluid with his lips, 
communicated the fatal disease to him, and he died shortly 
after, a victim to his science aud humanity. Children, in 
coughing have sometimes violently ejected the materies 
morbi, into the face of mother and friends with like ill 
results, and the contagion has even been carried out of the 
house by the soiled clothes of the sick. 

now CONTAGIOUS DISEASES ARE SPREAD. 

A very frequent manner of spreading contagion from 
all the infectious and communicating diseases, is through 
the exercises which religion in all its various forms encour¬ 
ages, if not commands. 

Faith in heaven, trust in God, and love for friends, all 
unite in paying the last respects to the memory of the de¬ 
parted, by attending the final ceremonies which precede 
the burial of the loved one forever from our mortal sight. 
The friends, and not unfrequently with children, and babes 
in their arms, gather into the house of one lately deceased 
with a pestilential disease. They crowd the parlors, they 
throng the halls ; the coffin is in their midst, and the sweet 
flowers cannot drive away contagion, and music, and pray¬ 
er, and exhortation have no influence capable of restraining 
the foul poison, which is constantly passing off, and with 
which the house, so long saturated with the elements of 
the disease, is yet filled, and which no disinfectants, power¬ 
ful as they may be, can drive away, or neutralize. 


276 


OUR CHILDREN. 


In other cases, the little dwelling is insufficient to con¬ 
tain the crowds, that, from one motive or another, desire to 
be present at this last service, and the church opens its 
wide portals to a gaping multitude. This is soon filled 
with an immense crowd, that throng the aisles, and the 
air is soon noisome from their united exhalations. In the 
midst of this atmosphere, so foul that it gives one a head¬ 
ache to breathe, they stand wearily for an hour or two, 
while the various services are performed. 

One can scarcely credit it, that here in the midst of this 
dense crowd of human beings, is exposed a mass, not only 
of commencing corruption, but the volatile and fleeting 
elements of the foulest contagion. All the diseases, a 
description of whose ghastly horrors have been briefly 
alluded to, are here at different times encouraged to be 
reproduced in hundreds of families throughout the com¬ 
munity. No more potent innoculation could be made, than 
that here presented to the whole community; no surer 
way could be conceived to spread havoc through the pub¬ 
lic midst, and to decimate a city. 

Surely, such things should not be permitted in a land 
where fatalism is not the predominant belief, and where in 
consequence, each one has some duties both for self-preser¬ 
vation, and for the protection of the public weal. 

Surely, the law should intervene, where such neglect is 
apparent, and prohibit by edict, any funeral from being 
called at any residence, or public place, either privately or 
publicly, without a distinct statement of the name of the 
disease, with which the person died being distinctly men¬ 
tioned, and named by the most popular name, that the 
most ignorant of scientific terms and nomenclature, be not 
deceived. Few parents w r ould knowingly expose their 
children to the contagious emanations of a body, reeking 
with the horrors of Scarlatina or Dyphtheria. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


ENEMIES TO GOOD LOOKS. 

T HERE is nothing so important in medicine, either to 
the patient, or to the physician, as the preservation of 
beauty. Some few men think highly of it in themselves, 
but far more as it respects their wives and children. The 
women think of it always for themselves, not a bit on their 
husband’s account, most always for their children, especial¬ 
ly for the girls. The girls begin to think of it, when the 
beaux commence to be a nuisance about the house. The 
boys think of it about the same time, only a little later, 
with the incipient downy moustache. The doctor, he 
thinks of it all the time, for it is a disease that lasts sum¬ 
mer and winter, is epidemic and contagious at the same 
time, and-always pays. 

There are but three forms, in which the injuries to per¬ 
sonal appearance, the destroyers of domestic happiness, 
attack the young. They come in the form of pimples, 
freckles, and warts. To these important themes we will 
devote a period of breathless attention. 

PIMPLES. 

A pimple always comes in a most noticeable locality. 
It is sure to be where every body can see it, and unfortu¬ 
nately, like other great misfortunes, they rarely come sin- 
gle. 

Boys and girls, or in more modern phraseology, young 
ladies and gentlemen, while just emerging from the grub 



278 


OUR CHILDREN. 


into tlie butterfly state, are much annoyed by these hard, and 
“ awful ugly ” looking red bumps, which the doctors call 
acne , laugh at, and rarely cure; but they are a source of 
real aunoyance. They are sometimes merely a hard 
excrescence of a fiery hue, which remain for a day or two, 
and then disappear, to be succeeded by ever recurring 
ones, to take the place of the departed. 

Sometimes they go on to suppuration, seeming to form 
around one of the Sebaceous follicles, which when pressed 
emits a white excretion, merely the secretion of the over 
stimulated gland, and deposited in the pore, but which 
many suppose to be a w T orm. These are sometimes too, 
quite annoying from a kind of disagreeable irritation, and 
dull pain connected with them. 

It is necessary to keep a sharp watch upon the appetite 
when these are present and their removal is desired, one 
must limit the amount of his animal food, which should be 
free from fats; also must rigidly avoid all stimulating 
drinks. The system should be kept cool by Kissengen 
W ater, or any saline cathartic. 

The face should be washed carefully and frequently 
w T ith soap, and bathed in a solution of carbonate of soda, 
say a table-spoonful to a quart of water. If this should not 
be sufficiently efficacious, it may be bathed two or three 
times a day with the following wash, which should be allow¬ 
ed to dry upon the face, and either wiped off afterward or 
used as an ordinary toilet powder for whitening the skin, 
when ladies are fashionable enough to use such beautifters 
and cosmetics. 


Rose Water, 4 oz. 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 2 scr. 
Corrosive Sublimate of Mercury, 4 gr. 


R 


This recipe should be used whenever any eruption is 
present, and the quantity of the Sublimate should be in- 


FRECKLES . 


279 


creased by one grain every time the bottle is refilled, until 
we find that the strength is sufficient by its action on the 
skin, and the experience gathered from its use. 

With patience, it will be found finally efficacious. But 
to one subject to this eruption, it will probably reappear 
at intervals, and will be quite apt to resist all attempts at 
radical extermination, until limited by age, and having run 
its course, the disease is banished away. 

FRECKLES. 

Another of the“ awful” diseases, affecting most everybody 
and more particularly the fair-haired, delicate-skinned 
inhabitants of cities. 

There are several varieties; the lenticular, the congenite^ 
the diffused, the solar lenticular, the idiopathic diffused, 
and the symptomatic diffused—these all belong to the class 
called by Hippocrates Ephelis , and the name is still con¬ 
tinued as the scientific designation. 

There are two distinct classes, one which is congenital, 
being dependent upon the complexion, and consequently 
sometimes hereditary, and that which is caused by the action 
of the sun. 

The former occurs most freqently in persons of very fair 
complextion, with a delicate skin, and yellowish or reddish 
hair. The spots are lenticular, persistent, not confined to 
the parts exposed to the light, but are frequently dissemi¬ 
nated over the body. They frequently do not become 
very apparent until sometime after birth, or even not until 
the child is five or six years old. 

SOLAR LENTICULAR EPHELIS. 

A tempory trouble appearing in Spring and Summer, 
after exposure to the direct, or reflected rays of the sun, 
or high wind. It is much more commonly seen upon resi¬ 
dents of cities after exposure. 


280 


OUR CHILDREN. 


We have also a diffused ejphelis , a disease of the same 
nature, but qnite different in appearance from the above 
described. That has a round, defined, regular, spot of a 
limited size; this species is characterized by irregular, dif¬ 
fused, and large patches, which vary more widely in color 
than the foregoing species. The causes of this form, are 
various. Sometimes proceeding from the direct effects of 
light and heat, and sometimes are symptomatic of some 
internal affection. 

Sun-burn comes under this head, and another form exists 
caused by heat alone, and is seen on the legs, arms, and 
thighs of persons sitting near a hot fire, without any 
covering intervening between those parts and it. 

A final variety of the symptomatic diffused ephelis, 
sometimes called “ liver spots,” “ moth.” These patches 
appear suddenly, and sometimes are as quickly removed. 
They are of a pale, dirty yellow, or of a yellowish brown, 
or a light tawny shade; or it passes from saffron, to a 
rhubarb hue. The patches are occasionally preceeded by 
itching, are sometimes very slightly elevated, and then ter¬ 
minate in desquamation of the cuticle. They appear most 
frequently on the neck, over the region of the liver, and 
kidneys, in the groins, on the forehead, and sometimes 
about the mouth. 

They are either persistant, or of short duration. The 
transient form of this discoloration is very common in del¬ 
icate females, particularly those whose uterine functions 
are disordered, and at the period of the catamenia. They 
occasionally appear suddenly, and disappear as speedily 
after a few hours, but they often remain a very considera¬ 
ble time, especially when they are connected with the sup¬ 
pression of the menses, or wffth conception. 

This form of ephelis is also sometimes connected with 
chronic affections of the liver; but more frequently with 


FRECKLES. 


281 


those of the stomach, and large bowels, and with those of 
the uterine organs. It is occasionally attendant upon 
hemorrhoids and is very readily excited in those liable to 
it, by vexation and anxiety of mind. It is also very gen¬ 
erally connected with a state of the digestive organs, char¬ 
acterized by a craving appetite, and imperfect digestion 
and assimilation. 

TREATMENT. 

Freckles are a matter of serious consideration for the 
fair sex, and we cannot blame, either the girls, or their 
parents, from attempting by all justifiable means to remove 
them. But all scientific, and honest men concur in the 
belief as expressed by Celsus, centuries ago, of the folly 
of those who attempt to remove them. Human science can¬ 
not work against nature, unless by destruction. Any 
applications externally will be fruitless, notwithstanding 
the advertisements of nostrum-venders, and perfumers, 
whose panaceas and cosmetics are so lauded in the hired 
columns of the press. 

But the more temporary Solar Ephelis can be materially 
benefited and removed, and too, with such improvement to 
the natural complexion as to be very noticeable. This 
fact has become so apparent, that ladies do not hesitate to 
become seriously freckled,and burnt, during the summer sea¬ 
son, as a preparation for a brilliant winter campaign. The 
skin, having gone through this excitement, the cuticle ex¬ 
foliating and being renewed, and the activity that has been 
stimulated in the pigment layer, results in an unwonted 
purity, and brilliancy of the complexion, most desirable. 

I will give a few of the most celebrated recipes, useful 
in the acute forms, and also after the exposure has left a 
comparatively permanent darkening of the skin generally. 

Celsus advised a liniment of resin, rock salt, and honey; 


282 


OUR ■CHILDREN\ 


Actuarius one of vinegar, honey, and bitter almonds, in 
emulsion. 


R 


An Emulsion of Bitter Almonds^6 oz. 

Corrosive Sublimate, 2 gr. Mix. 


Sulphuric Acid, 1 dr. 

Spring Water, half a pint. Mix. 


Hydrochloric Acid, 12 drops. 

Rose Water, 1 pint. Mix. 


Horse Radish grated, and boiled in milk. 
Sour Buttermilk. 


Balsam of Mecca with super-acetate of lead, made 
into a pomatum,—left on the face all night. 

Juice of Sorel, 

Lime juice, 

Camphor, Mixture, equal parts. 

Also, this last combined with nitrate of potash, or the 
milk of Sulphur, or with Venetian Soap dissolved in lemon 
juice. 

Rub the parts with slices of lemon, or sour apples. 


Sulphate of Zinc, 1 dr. 

Glycerine, 4 oz. Mix. 

Biborate of Soda, 2 dr. 

Orange Flower Water, 6 oz. Mix. 

These are to be generally applied at night, and allowed 
to remain till morning. 

The forms of Ephelis, which are symptoms of internal, 
and often organic diseases, are not to be tampered with by 
any popular, and domestic remedies. They evidence too 
serious disease to be trifled with ; least of all for any 
attempts at removal by resort to internal medication. 
Under proper medical care, they may be advantageously 
treated. They usually are connected with imperfect secre¬ 
tions, excretions and assimilations. These functions should 
be assisted by mild, cooling, and alterative purgations, light 
diet and moderate exercise. 










SKIN DEFORMITIES. 


283 


Yery small, and frequent doses of blue pill, or Hydrarg 
et Creta may be given with Castile Soap, and Taraxicum; 
or with Aloes and Myrrh pills, if the catamenia are scan¬ 
ty, or with ox-gall in addition. The internal use of Crea- 
sote may be tried, and most Carbolic soaps, and lotions 
externally. 

Sulphurous, and mineral waters may also be taken, and 
lotions with the sulphuret of potassium, or with nitre and 
camphor juleps, or sulphuretted fumigating baths may be 
resorted to. 

WARTS. 

Another source of annoying deformity comes from warts. 
This is an altered formation of the skin, in which certain 
of its elements are developed too fully, and at the expense 
of the other tissue. It cannot be considered so much a 
disease as an hypertrophy, a distorted enlargement of the 
external skin. 

It is without any professional interest, and only noticea¬ 
ble because it makes itself so prominent, and so offensive 
in that respect, but being a reflex of many of the individu¬ 
als, to whom they appertain. 

They are caused by temporary excitements in the skin, 
and coming rapidly, and from slight local irritation, depart 
as quickly. They seem to be in no little degree under the 
influence of the mind, as is evident from the methods taken 
to get rid of them. 

I can remember the mental motion which possessed me, 
w T hen about six or eight years old. I was taken into the 
garden, by the light of the moon of three days age only, 
and three crosses were lightly made over the warts w^hich 
covered my hands, and repeated as often with great mys¬ 
tery, while the moon w'as shining over the left shoulder, 
and on to the warts, upon the south-west side of a venera¬ 
ble pear-tree. Whether or not, it was because my faith was 


284 


OUR CHILDREK 


not great enough, or from some other cause, I cannot say, 
but it was found necessary to rub them with a bit of meat, 
which carefully, and with appropriate ceremonial exercises, 
we buried in the garden. 

I narrate these, as specimens of many similar methods 
of getting rid of them—which indeed, sometimes seem 
successful, but which effect is owing rather to a coincidence, 
than to any action of the mind already alluded to. It 
is possible however, that like the efficacy of the King’s 
touch in Scrofula, formerly so famous for its supposed po¬ 
tency, the power of the mind may have some effect upon 
the nourishment of the part, the afflux of the blood to it, 
&c. 

There are many popular remedies, the acrid juices of 
numerous indigenous plants, as the milk-weed, hemlock, 
&c. The most effectual however, are some of the mineral 
caustics, such as the nitrate of silver, commonly known as 
lunar costic, nitric acid, applied with a glass tube, or a bit 
of wood, and allowed to act, till it eats it off. 

The most effectual remedy that I have found, is to be 
made by a careful druggist, after the following recipe. 



Aquae, q. s. 

Potassae Bicromate, q .8. to saturation, and add 
Acid Sulph. Fortis, 


until precipitation is finished. Pour off the superponant liquor, and dry 
the residuum on a tile. Permit no paper, or wood to come in contact. 
Then of this: 


Chromic Acid, 

Aquae, a. a. Mix. 



and paint the wart with a glass brush once a day, till it disappears, or is too 
sore to repeat. 

If however, you have a very troublesome old, seed wart 
that defies all the applications you have tried, the following 
plan will give the old fellow a pretty hard rub, and very 


A REAL ROE-FIRE. 


285 


probably will be successful; but these old chaps are as 
hard to get rid of, as was Sinbad’s Old Man of the Moun¬ 
tain. 

Take a piece of Gum Camphor about the size of a split 
pea, and place it upon the top of the wart, and press it on 
so firmly, that it will not fall off by a slight shaking. Then 
with a match set it on fire. This will so disorganize it, 
that the chances of seeing it renewed, will be very slight. 
The pleasure of looking at the old fellow smoking, as a 
kind of retributive justice for the evil it has done in the 
world to you, will compensate very considerably for any 
slight pain the operation may inflict. 

There is one consolation about warts, and that is, they 
will go away of themselves in time. I don’t remember 
ever seeing one on an old person. To be sure, some have 
projections of the flesh which much resemble them, and 
even might have once been of this description ; but their 
anatomical character has changed, and even their appear¬ 
ance is not repulsive and objectionable as they were; even 
of these, very few are noticeable. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


SUMMER COMPLAINT, AND WATER ON THE BRAIN. 

M ANY centuries ago,by a kingly command,every son that 
was born among a whole nation, was cast into the river 
and destroyed. Thus,for a period,but one male child—Moses 
—was saved to perpetuate the race. Still later, by a few 
years, “ at midnight, the Lord smote all the first-born in 
the land of Egypt, * * * and there was not a house 

where there was not one dead.” 

At a subsequent period, King Herod “ sent forth and 
slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the 
coasts thereof, from two years old and under.” 

A similar lamentation and weeping arises—not at inter¬ 
vals of centuries, as in the above mentioned instances, but 
yearly—from this city. This occurs not in obedience to 
auy tyrannous edict, nor, as we can perceive, by any 
immediate, divine interposition, neither is it owing to any 
peculiar malarious influence from the soil or climate. Not 
a quarter of a century ago, this city was sought as a salu¬ 
brious resort by invalids from the country, desiring a change 
of air, and the refreshing breezes of the ocean. 

It is now, however, well known that disease — more 
deadly than the pestilence of Egypt, more unsparing than 
kingly anger—annually sweep off hundreds and thousands 
of the blossom and beauty of this city and this country. 

Summer complaint, as it is generally known, is intimate¬ 
ly connected with teething. By many it is considered 
identical; but this idea is erroneous. It may, more cor- 


SUMMER COMPLAINT. 


2S7 


rectly, be considered a gastric-fever, as it is a disease of 
childhood; but, occurring most frequently in connection 
with dentition, it is greatly modified by this irritation. 
English writers call this complaint—as they see it—chron¬ 
ic diarrhoea; for in England they have little of that exces¬ 
sive heat which gives an additional intensity, aggravation, 
and fatality, to this class of cases. 

It commeuces at a period coincident with the cutting of 
a tooth, when the bowels are in a state of sympathetic irri¬ 
tability, and disturbed by some improper article of food 
w r hich the mother has begun to add to her own inadequate 
supply of milk. Mothers should remember this, and at 
such a time recollect that food, ordinarily innocuous, may 
become indigestible to the debilitated stomach. In addition 
to these, add a sudden change in the weather—a week’s 
intense heat, or a thermometric fall, as we cometimes see 
it, of some thirty or forty degrees—and the child is taken 
with vomiting and purging. The house is alarmed, the 
doctor is got out of his bed and hurried to the scene. 

If this has continued for some time, the appearance of 
the child is greatly changed. The plump, rosy boy of yes¬ 
terday is pallid, ghastly,Iwith sunken eyes and cold skin. 
One can scarcely believe that a few hours can have made 
such a change. He seems to have lost a quarter of his 
weight. 

If these evacuations have continued for some time, we 
may presume that all offending material has thereby been 
removed. We may then give a tea-spoonful of the follow¬ 
ing mixture every hour. 


Carbonate of Soda, 2 scruples. 
Laudanum, 10 drops. 

Simple syrup, 1 oz. 

Caraway water, 1 oz. 



Mix. 


If this is rejected by the stomach, it will be best to give 


238 


OUR CHILD REN. 


an injection, made by mixing four or five drops of lauda¬ 
num and five grains of bicarbonate of soda in a table-spoon¬ 
ful of tliin, warm starch. 

It is to be hoped that this treatment will be successful. 
The vomiting is arrested, but a diarrhoea is very apt to en¬ 
sue, which is exceedingly troublesome and exhausting. 
The passages are green, slimy, and with a sour smell. We 
arrest this by giving a tea-spoonful, every three hours, of the 
following mixture: 


Bicarbonate of Bismuth, 16 gr. 
Aromatic Chalk Powder, 2 scr. 
Simple Syrup, 1-2 oz. 



Mucilage of Tragacanth, 1-2 oz. 
Water, 1 oz. Mix. 


And at the same time introducing into the bowels one of 
the suppositories after every movement of the bowels: 



Pulvis Opii, 6 gr. 
Soda Bicarb, 2 ecr. 
Butr. Cacao, 2 scr. 


Mix and divide into 12 suppositories. 


Suppositories are generally very badly made by the intro¬ 
duction of wax and other injurious ingredients, to facilitate 
their manipulation. I never prescribe them unless they 
are compounded by my own druggist, or by some one 
whom I am personally convinced makes them correctly. 

I will not attempt to follow out the treatment. I will 
say however, that I do not often find calomel requisite for 
the treatment of this complaint. Sometimes, indeed, it is 
absolutely necessary ; then I give it, but it is always with 
great hesitancy for it is very apt to have permanently 
injurious results. 

The food is very important in these cases. Nothing is 
so good as the breast of a healthy mother. If this is want¬ 
ing, the cow’s milk comes next, as spoken of in a previous 
article. The juices from a piece of roast beef or mutton 


DIET OF RA W ME A T, 


289 


are beneficial. If stimulants are needed—and they are, if 
the “ soft spot” on the top of the head sinks in—then beat 
up the white of an egg, add a cup of milk, a tea-spoonful of 
brandy, sugar, and a few grains of nutmeg, and give half 
in the forenoon, and the remainder in the afternoon to the 
child. Drop the yolk into some boiling water, and feed 
this to him, with a little salt. 

If he still gets worse, try the modern French diet of 
raw meat , as recommended by the renowned Professor 
Trousseau, stopping all other food. A piece of raw mutton 
or rump steak is to be freed from gristle and fat, finely 
minced, and pounded in a mortar until reduced to a pulp. 
This is to be strained through a fine sieve or cloth to remove 
the blood vessels and cellular tissue. 

Of the meat thus prepared, a tea-spoonful is to be given 
at regular intervals four times a day, and every day the 
quantity is to be gradually increased, until half a pound a 
day is thus taken. During this treatment, no other food 
of any kind must be allowed, and no fluid but thin barley 
water, or a drink make by mixing the unboiled whites of 
three eggs in a pint of water, sweetening it, and flavoring 
it with orange water. 

This diet usually causes the motions to have an intensely 
offensive smell, but this is of no consequence. The little 
patients often like the food, and take it eagerly. If, how¬ 
ever, it proves repugnant to them, it may be sweetened 
with white sugar, or it may be given in a little veal broth. 

While under this treatment, the only medicine required 
is the preparation, with bismuth, above given—with the 
addition, of one drop of laudanum to each dose. 

For the first few days the passages are horribly offensive, 
but the treatment must be followed up for a prolonged 
period till this entirely ceases. When there is a marked 
improvement, some tonic will probably be required, and 
the following will be found very useful: 

13 


290 


OUR CHILDREN. 


R 


Liquid per-nitrate of iron, 1-2 dr. 

Diluted Nitric Acid, 1-2 dr. 

Syrup of Ginger, 1 oz. 

Anise water, 3 oz. 

Mix, and give one or two tea-spoonfuls every six 
hours. 


Citrate of iron and quinine, or cod-liver oil, may be 
found necessary at an after period. 

I have only endeavored to outline this treatment, which 
has some novel features, in order to bring its leading pecu¬ 
liarities more distinctly before the community and those 
of the profession less “ up” in the novelties of the day. 


WATER ON THE BRAIN. 

IIydrocephaltjs is the learned name for a disease affect¬ 
ing children from one to five or six years of age, and one 
too, which to the fond and doting parents seems to be an 
affliction carrying with it more than usual hardship. 

The gardener, engaged in his husbandry, notices a ruddy 
apple upon some tree, which he regards with special inter¬ 
est. Day by day, he watches its growth, and notices how 
much more vigorous it seems, surpassing its fellows in size, 
and then, long before any of its neighbors have shown an 
evidence of approaching ripeness, this one commences to 
evince a change in its hue, and soon a bright ruddy streak 
on the side upon which the sun lies, shows that it is com¬ 
ing to a speedy maturity. It hangs high upon the bough, 
and the husbandman cannot give it the careful examina¬ 
tion that he would desire ; but he is not altogether satisfied 
with this precocity ; it is too far ahead of its fellows and 
he says to himself, “ That one wfill never come to the bar¬ 
rel.” But for a while it glistens in the sunshine, and the 
passing school-boy looks wistfully at it, and some day when 
he it unobserved, he shies a venturous stone toward it. 
He does pot hit very near, but the slight jar upon the 
]30ugh i§ sufficient fp separate it from the twig, and it falls 


WATER OX THE BRAIX. 


291 


and bursts open at bis feet, and reveals under that fair skin 
and that gorgeous hue, naught but rottenness and decay. 

That prematurely brilliant child, with the hectic Hush 
on his cheek, his lustrous eye, and precocious intellect, is 
in condition, similar to a wormy apple. The delighted 
parent will in after years, dilate upon those budding charms, 
and the glorious prospect before him. “Ah ! had Georgy 
but lived, he would have made a wonderful man, for, when 
but a few months old, he could do this, and that, and at two 
years he was a prodigy.” And the sympathizing listener 
will swell the paean by the oft-repeated statement, that “ the 
smartest children generally die.” 

It is a pity to destroy this fond delusion, but the truth 
is, that this is but seeming. The dying candle flashes up 
with a startling brilliancy ; the child, stimulated by disease, 
appears to be unusually intelligent. The heated blood 
which rushes so vigorously through the distended temples, 
carries a poison in its current; still it dashes along, and 
rapidly turns the wheels of life; but its apparent strength 
is but debility, and its brilliancy but the phosphorescence 
of decay. 

Water on the Brain is a disease of a scrofulous nature, 
like tabes mesenterica in very young children, hip com¬ 
plaints, rickets, and white swellings, in those older, and 
consumption and Bright’s disease in the advanced. It is a 
tuberculous manifestation upon the membranes of the brain, 
and often with it are, like tuberculous developments on 
various other organs of the body. It is very generally sup¬ 
posed to be the result of a fall, or a blow upon the head; 
and as children are always tumbling more or less, it is not 
difficult for parents or friends, to look back to some such 
accident, from wdience to date the origin of the disease. 

Very likely, the slight or severe (as may be) injury which 
was then sustained, was the exciting cause of the disease, 


292 


OUR CHILDREN,\ 


and the reason of its location in that tissue ; otherwise, the 
disease might have been delayed, and perhaps have been 
warded off, and kept at abeyance for quite a period. But 
the seeds of disease are in the system, possibly inherited 
from a far-removed ancestry, the hereditary influence of 
excess in drinking, tobacco, venery, but more probably the 
result of some irregularity in the immediate parents—the 
temporary debility of some disease which vitiated the ele¬ 
ments of life, inspired into its being at its earliest incep¬ 
tion. 

But whatever may have, been the remote cause, the 
proximate one has been some slight illness, which would 
have been of little moment to a healthy organization ; and 
the slight derangement consequent upon its presence, is 
sufficient to change a dormant malady to an active disease. 

The child commences to complain of pain in its head— 
possibly, is somewhat stupid; then a convulsion ensues, and 
perhaps several iu immediate succession. Then comes on 
a series of changeable phenomena, which are, for a time, 
palliated. The disease soon proceeds to a rapid termina¬ 
tion, with acute inflammatory symptoms, very much re¬ 
sembling brain-fever in their main elements, and which is 
sufficiently puzzling to an ordinary physician not acquaint¬ 
ed with the family, and the general constitution of both 
them, and the immediate patient. 

The acute forms are quite frequently remedied by judi¬ 
cious treatment, where careful watching, and a temperate 
use of appropriate remedies are most apt to be beneficial; 
and where heroic treatment by the old-fashioned blisters 
and leeches, and large doses of mercurials are apt to fail 
very generally. Great benefit; is often obtained in these 
acute cases, where delirium, and other symptoms of inflam¬ 
mation of the brain are present, by minute doses of the 
corrosive sublimate of mercury, conjoined with fuller doses 


WATER ON THE BRAIN. 


293 


of the liydriodate of potassa. This treatment, however, 
should be under the immediate care of an acute physician, 
and one not too—wedded to old-fashioned notions. A little 
of the progressive, modern festinante lente will be found 
especially serviceable. 

If recovery from this acute stage is obtained, this happy, 
and not to be too confidently predicted result should be 
kept up by a general tonic regimen ; by change of air, and 
plenty of it; nutritious food; avoidance of all intellectual 
exercise—giving up school for several years, perhaps—and 
the whole efforts devoted to invigorating the health, and 
renewing the stamina, by life in the open air, and generous 
living. 

Unfortunately, sometimes these children do neither get 
well or die, but relapse into a chronic condition, almost de¬ 
void of intelligence—sometimes with occasional convulsions, 
sometimes recognizing persons, but incapable of acquiring 
any knowledge more than, nor so much, as a dog; in fact, 
they are idiotic. They grow somewhat in statnre, but not 
to full size; but the head increases immensely, often to be 
three or four times the size of an adult cranium—too pon¬ 
derous to be held upright even for a moment, on its little 
pipe-stem of a neck, and consequently the person is constant¬ 
ly compelled to recline with the head on a pillow. The dis¬ 
tortion of the head, from the separation of its constituent 
bones; the divergent eyes, squinting and sightless from the 
weight of the water which fills the head, and presses on the 
brain, so as to destroy sense, and almost life—all these ren¬ 
der the patient an object of disgust, especially where there 
is not sufficient money in the family to enable one to be 
sufficiently cared for. Death is a boon, and it comes, often, 
not for many years. I have lately seen a girl of some 
twenty years of age, and several of six to ten years. 

I had the photographs of one girl taken some years ago, 


294 


OUR CHILDREN. 


whose head was the largest on record. It was some twen¬ 
ty-four inches over the cranium from one ear to the other. 

Many attempts have been made to. remedy this distress¬ 
ing state of things. By tapping, the effused fluids have 
been removed; but they have either filled up again, or fatal 
inflammation has ensued. Medicines have been unavailing 
in the attempts to absorb them. The system generally is 
weak, and exhausted nature yields, after rarely continuing 
a struggle more than a few years. 

PURULENT OPHTHALMIA OF THE NEW-BORN. 

The first complaint to which a child is subject, is inflam¬ 
mation of the eyes, or ophthalmia neonatorum. The im¬ 
portance of this disorder is very apt to be overlooked by 
mothers, and more especially by the monthly nurses, who 
are very fond of magnifying their calling, by treating them 
in their own way with domestic remedies, and lotions of 
supposed inherited value, or something brought with them 
from their last place. 

I wish mothers who may read this, to remember that 
a larger percentage of the blind children of five years old 
and less, are the result of this ignorant treatment—that it 
is a disease which is very controllable, yielding to very 
slight medicines, and that the horrible result of total blind¬ 
ness is owing, almost always, to neglect, or worse still, to 
improper treatment. 

The disease itself originates from contagion, in a great 
many cases. The mother very often has some irritating 
vaginal secretion, sometimes of a specific character, which 
gets into the eyes of the child at birth; and the third day 
after, as a result of this inoculation, we note the first signs 
of redness and ichorous discharge from the eyes. 

Sometimes, the cause is less evidently pertaining to the 
accident of birth ; it may be from cold, more probably the 


BLINDNESS. 


295 


result of soap getting into tlie eyes by carelessness at the 
first washings. Sometimes, from the exigencies of the 
birth, and to excite tardy circulation of the blood through 
the dormant capillaries, the child has been stimulated by 
a free ablution with spirits over the head and body, some 
of which, entering between the eyelids, has resulted in this 
inflammatory action. 

Let the cause be as it may, the result may be fearful in¬ 
deed, for the eyelids soon become agglutinated together, 
and the sack thus formed is speedily filled with a thick, 
puriform matter, which gushes out in a scalding stream, 
accompanied by the screams of the little sufferer. 

One word of caution: This discharge is markedly con¬ 
tagious, and if it enters into the eyes of the attendant, or 
mother, or any other child, will produce equally fearful re¬ 
sults. Care, therefore, must be taken with regard to all 
utensils, cloths, and handkerchiefs, that they may not con¬ 
vey this infection. 

Do not attempt to “ hide this from the doctor,” or trust 
to “ washing it with mother’s milk,” or any such fanciful 
treatment. If the medical attendant is visiting, refer to 
him; if not, gently, but firmly and quickly, open the lids, 
and see —if you can—the cornea of the eye. If able, the 
case is comparatively trivial, and you can trust for a day 
or two, to inserting bet/ween the lids a few drops of alum- 
water—about four to six grains to an ounce of water—or a 
few drops of quite strong green tea, at the same time smear¬ 
ing the edge of the lids with a little lard or cold cream, to 
prevent them re-adhering. 

If this is not successful, try six grains of the sulphate of 
zinc in a wine-glass of rose-water—or, better still, four 
grains of the crystals of nitrate of silver in an ounce of dis¬ 
tilled water—but don’t daub face, clothes, fingers, and 
everything else, with this indellible stain. 


296 


OUR CHILDREN. 


Be sure that these eye-lotions go between the lids, and 
on to the eyeball—no matter if it does smart a little. Keep 
the eyes covered with a bit of rag constantly wet with 
cold water. The bowels should not be permitted to get 
confined. 

If you don’t find the child improving; if, on the contrary, 
it is getting fretful, the eyelids redder and more tumid, and 
the iris invisible, get a real, live doctor, or your child will 
require a dog to lead him about for a lifetime of reproach 
to your neglect. lie may think a leech near the eyelid de¬ 
sirable, or some more energetic application. If you are 
wise, you will say, “ Whatever is best, do it, doctor. Save 
me from future reproach, nor let those sightless orbs refuse 
to look upon one whose false tender-heartedness, or more 
culpable neglect, caused such mournful ruin.” 


CHAPTER XIX. 


WHOOPING-COUGH. 


W HOOPING-COUGH {Pertussis —chin-cough) is 
not often a very serious disease, yet occasionally 
one dies from it. The only case that I have myself seen 
succumbing to it, was my own, only son, when but a few 
weeks old. To most contagious diseases, the newly born 
child is generally exempt. Scarlet fever, and measles, and 
often small-pox, will be in a family, and every one in it— 
not free from it by reason of previous attacks—will be seiz¬ 
ed with it, except the child nursing at the breast. Quite 
on the contrary, a child born into a house where whooping- 
cough is present, will be most likely to take this disease 
immediately, and will cough in a very few days afterward, 
and the disease will be fully recognizable in a week’s 
time. 

This complaint commences very much like a common cold, 
often with a running at the nose, sneezing, redness of the 
eyes, a dry cough, and febrile symptoms. In quite a pro¬ 
portion of cases, there is also local inflammatory affection 
of the lungs, to a greater or less extent. Gradually, how¬ 
ever, the general symptoms subside, but the cough increases, 
and takes on a more marked paroxysmal character, till 
finally, at about the end of a week or ten days, there is a 
well-marked, distinct whoop, upon inspiration, added to 
the characteristic paroxysmal manifestation. The disease 
has now passed the first , or catarrhal inflammatory stage y 
and entered upon the second, or spasmodic stage. 

13 * 


298 


OUR CHILDREN, 


Now, at irregular intervals, without any apparently de¬ 
fined cause, and also when suddenly startled, aroused from 
sleep, or desiring to drink, the child is seized with an irre¬ 
sistible impulse to cough, and the cough is broken, instead 
of occupying the entire period of expiration, and this is 
continued until all the air is expelled from the lungs. 
Then comes the inspiration, which is long and forcible, and 
accompanied by a whooping sound, as if the breath were 
drawn, as it really is, through a contracted passage. This 
continues for a more or less prolonged period—from half a 
second, to sometimes fifteen minutes, with slight inter¬ 
vals. 

The paroxysm is often a fearful spectacle. The child 
that, perhaps, is sleeping in the sweet unconsciousness of 
innocence, is awakened by this fearful cough, and a sense 
of strangulation. It leaps up from the bed into a sitting 
posture, and seizes upon any one standing near, as if in 
fear, and for support. The face becomes flushed, tumid, 
sometimes of a purplish, or livid hue; the veins in the neck 
and throat are distended, and the eyes seemingly about to 
be forced out of the head, blood-shotten, and suffused with 
tears. It would appear as if strangulation was imminent. 
In violent cases, the blood escapes from the nose, mouth, 
and ears, and the urine and foeces are discharged involun¬ 
tarily. No wonder fond parents are alarmed at the appar¬ 
ently imminent danger, and evident fear and suffering of 
the child. 

Gradually, however, the paroxysm lessens in intensity, 
and the cough ceases entirely. The child is apparently 
feeble and trembling, after the gust lias passed away. The 
pulse and breathing are both hurried, as would be expected. 
Soon, however, the child seems as before, and, apparently 
forgetful of the past trouble, playing about as ever. This 
is the general character of the second stage , 


WHOOPING COUGH. 


299 


The “ let up ” of the paroxysm is accompanied by an 
expectoration of a strong, stringy mucus, sometimes in 
very large quantities, colorless, unless streaked with blood, 
and without odor. Sometimes it w T ould seem as if it was 
the difficulty of expectorating this, that was the cause of 
the entire difficulty; at others, it is discharged with such 
great ease, that it seems to have no relation to the spas¬ 
modic action. Frequently it is not got rid of until its exit 
is effected by the straining accompanying vomiting. When 
the stomach has thus been emptied, the relieved child 
w T ill proceed immediately to eating, as if nothing had hap¬ 
pened. 

The paroxysms generally increase in intensity for about 
four weeks, when the disease usually reaches its height. 
It seems then to remain almost stationary, for some three 
w r eeks longer, and from this period, it begins to gradually 
decline, constituting the third stage of the complaint —the 
paroxysms getting less and less frequent, and their intensi¬ 
ty diminishing, till the whoop entirely fades away, and 
shortly after, every trace of the catarrhal symptoms disap¬ 
pear likewise. 

This is the ordinary manifestation in the simpler cases , 
but it is liable to various modifications. If the disease 
appears in the fall or winter, it may continue until the 
balmy spring air carries away the last traces; for even when 
it has entirely disappeared, and no whoop has been noticed 
for some weeks even, it will sometimes reappear with al¬ 
most as marked severity as before, upon the occasion of 
some cold, or slight bronchial irritation after exposure. 

In some cases, the disease is so slight as to be with diffi¬ 
culty determined ; in others, the severity of the paroxysms 
seems to threaten suffocation, and by the pressure at the 
brain, fatal convulsions are sometimes brought on, or the 
child dies from asphyxia, from the complete closure of the 


300 


OUR CHILDREN,\\ 


glottis. Sometimes, when very prolonged, the emaciation 
is so great as to be exhaustive. But with proper treatment 
such cases are rare. The greatest danger arises from the 
complication with other diseases, as inflammation of the 
lungs, and contagious diseases, cholera infantum, &c. 

Treatment in mild cases is almost unnecessary, a slight 
expectorant being all that is required. The first stage 
needs the treatment ordinary to inflammatory diseases of 
the chest and air-passages, and, usually being unsuspected, 
it is thus treated. 

The second stage requires anti-spasmodic treatment, and 
almost all the cough medicines contain assafoetida in large 
proportion. This may • be given with benefit in twenty- 
drop doses of the tincture, in a little sweetened milk, or a 
tea-spoonful in a table-spoonful of warm milk and water, 
as an injection into tho bowelsj once or twice a day. I 
have usually made a prescription something like the follow¬ 
ing, for a child a year or two old: 

R Camphor Mixture, 

Tine, of Assafoetida, 

Hydrocyanic Acid, 

Syrup of Ipecac, 

Tine. Lobelia, 

Tine. Cochineal, 

Syrup of Tolu, 

Mix:—Dose, From a half to 
to four hours. 

As the disease declines, the treatment should not be 
stopped, but diminished in quantity and frequency. If the 
debility should be great, tonics may be required—bark, iron, 
etc. In case of convulsions occurring in the course of 
the disease, the assafoetida should be given as recommended 
already, and in increased doses; garlic poultices to the feet 
frictions with garlic and spirit along the spine, and perhaps 
a warm bath. 

Vaccination is said to have a decided modifying influence 


2 dr. 

2 dr. 

20 drops. 

2 dr. 

1-2 dr. 

1 dr. 

1 ounce. 

a tea-spoonful every two 


TREATMENT OF WHOOPING COUGH. 


301 


over the disease; if therefore, the child has not been vac¬ 
cinated, a trial should be made of its alleged prophylactic 
properties. I have seen no satisfactory results from this 
treatment. 

The diet in the first stage should be moderate and un¬ 
stimulating. In the second and third, light but nutritious 
—milk, eggs, soups, the boiled breast of fowl, custards, jel¬ 
lies, and the like. 

During the first stage the child should be kept in a warm, 
close room, but as he advances into the purely spasmodic 
stage he will obtain great benefit from pure, dry air. In¬ 
deed, there is no greater benefit derivable than from a 
change of air—more particularly from the city, into the 
country, or to mountain air. Dryness of atmosphere is 
especially desirable, but any change is beneficial, even from 
one part of the town to another. In the winter a perma¬ 
nent removal to a warm climate is useful. 

Whooping cough is mainly a disease of children, and as 
a general, rule occurs but once in the same individual, yet 
parents are very apt to have a sympathetic*, spasmodic cough 
when their children are suffering, even when they are 
known to have themselves had the disease, as children. 

When adults have the disease for the first time, which 
rarely happens, it is very apt to be quite severe and alarm¬ 
ing to the patient. It has sometimes been mistaken for 
rapid consumption, and patients have hurried off to Hav¬ 
ana, and like warm climates, at an undesirable expense and 
loss of business. A careful diagnosis, with auscultation, 
will generally determine the condition of things better. 

CONVULSIONS OF CHILDREN. 

There is no form of disease, which more profoundly 
impresses the spectator than “ fitsfor, whether witnessed 
in the strong man, the puny child, or those lower animals 


302 


OUR CHILDREN. 


tliat fill a warm place in onr affections, they always arouse 
our deepest sympathy. From apparent health to the 
prostration of an imminent death, the transition is so mo¬ 
mentary that we are involuntarily thrilled with horror. Hor 
can we witness such a spectacle without a thought of Him 
who holds us, so plainly, “in the hollow of His hand.” 
The most worldly cannot but be impressed with awe, and 
a feeling involuntarily arises that we are but shadows, and 
pursuing like fleeting, unsubstantial nothings. 

We look at a man of pomp and power, now the master 
of all around, proud in his possessions, and imperious in 
his will. Just now his anger is aroused, he rises in his 
might to hurl his imprecations against some offending one, 
but ere the sentence is complete, and his angered lips can 
utter his scathing rebuke—ere he can frame a thought of 
pardon, for past, and perhaps for present wrong-doings, his 
strength is suddenly stripped from him, his power, and 
pride, and possessions all gone, even his curling lip refuses 
to own his mastery, and he falls headlong, unconscious, 
prone upon the ground he but this instant trod, its puta¬ 
tive lord! 

Look at that soft-haired, blue-eyed cherub, redolent with 
joy, whose April showers but. give a sparkle to the counte¬ 
nance, and whose unconscious innocence and purity con¬ 
trast so deliciously with the world around. How sweetly 
he coos and prattles on the white bosom of his fond, doting 
mother! How serene and happy is all around! This, 
surely, is Paradise. Why need we think of past ante-dilu- 
vian purity ? Why need we look forward to any future 
more unclouded than this ? 

We have scarcely framed the thought, nor has our ton¬ 
gue found time to utter an expression of our beatitude, 
when, turning again to look at our clierub-boy, we note a 
horrible, appalling change. That radiant countenance, 


CONVULSIONS. 


303 


wherein purity and love seemed to have been seated, is 
black and distorted, the eyes are rolling and glaring with 
unnatural brightness, and every limb, and muscle, and 
nerve seemed strained to their utmost tension, as the beau¬ 
tiful babe writhes in a fearful convulsion. Was the past 
but a dream ? Is the present but a fancy ? 

There is a form of convulsions that sometimes accompa¬ 
nies one’s entrance into being; a peculiar form, having some 
unusual manifestations, one of which is lockjaw , which, 
except at intervals, prevents the child from opening its 
mouth, nursing, and sometimes even interfering with its 
powers of swallowing. 

This trismus nascentium has many theories connected 
with its cause, but I know from my own observation that 
some of these—marked cases, too—are the result of injury 
to, or pressure upon the brain. I have seen cases instantane¬ 
ously relieved, after a week or ten days’ duration, by pres¬ 
sure upon the back head, and thus removing an obstruction, 
caused by overlapping parietal, and occipital bones. But 
this state of things I have seen continue for nearly a year’s 
time, with occasional intermittence of a few hours, life 
being sustained only by assiduous care, and finally, in spite 
of all that a mother’s .exhaustless and untiring love could 
do, succumbing and wasting away. These cases come 
directly under the physician’s supervision, and to him, I 
leave the not easy task of devising appropriate treat¬ 
ment. 

A simpler form of convulsions seizes the babe, that has 
been allowed to run about, and cram anything, and every¬ 
thing into its mouth—berries and raisins, and bits of the 
peel or core of fruit, or fruit-cake, or he has perhaps, swal¬ 
lowed a large piece of meat, or drank old milk which has 
curdled in his stomach. A little syrup of ipecac soon dislodges 



304 


OUR CHILDREN. 


this inappropriate food, and the next day finds him as 
blithe as ever. 

So, too, a sudden fit of anger, or great excitement in the 
mother, may produce such a change in the milk that she 
secretes, as to immediately affect the child ; and instances are 
known of death ensuing immediately after nursing from 
such disturbed mothers. As an ordinary occurrence, the 
green and slimy passages of the child show the temper of 
the parent. 

The most common convulsions, however, are those which 
accompany teething. The nervous system preponderates 
in many children, and the slightest disturbance of the 
system manifests itself immediately in a spasm. Sometimes 
with every set of teeth (for they usually come in double 
pairs), a paroxysm of this character seems to be necessary. 
It proceeds from the double cause of an unusual rush of 
blood toward the head, attendant upon the development of 
the teeth, and next, upon the irritation caused by the pres¬ 
sure of the growing teeth upon the firm periosteal mem¬ 
brane, which incases the jaw-bone. The finger placed upon 
the gums finds them swollen, hot and dry. Relief is 
almost immediate, when this tense, inelastic band is severed. 
Mothers sometimes do this by firm pressure with^a thim¬ 
ble—which gives unnecessary pain by its bruising opera¬ 
tions—and the child instinctively seizes upon any hard sub¬ 
stance, and bites vigorously upon it, in obedience to its nat¬ 
ural impulse. Do not, then, object to the physician’s 
“ cutting the gums.” The cries that the child may utter 
are owing far more to the presence of a strange person, to 
its unusual position, and the slight restraint by which it is 
held in a convenient position, than to any pain proceeding 
from the cutting through this almost senseless matter. 

Many persons have fears that fatal bleeding may ensue. 
Children do, in excessively rare instances, die after having 


CONVULSIONS. 


305 


the gums cut, from the bleeding therefrom, as an active 
symptom, but the actual disease is one of the blood, 
whereby its organic properties are changed, and this is 
always evinced by purple blotches and spots under the skin, 
resembling “ black and blue spots,” which are always 
more or less to be seen, and is a distinct disease in itself of 
considerable seriousness, and which was overlooked by the 
physician, who ascribed all the disturbance of the system 
to the ordinary act of teething. 

Another form of convulsions, ■ usually accompanied by 
stupor, and a rolling of the head and eyes, with a slow and 
half regular motion from one side to the other, is seen in 
the advanced stages of cholera infantum. This arises 
from sympathetic suffusion of the brain, and this again 
sometimes from the effect of a continued, and perhaps, ex¬ 
cessive use of narcotic and anodyne treatment. We may 
advantageously apply bladders of ice to the head, and give 
small quantities of coffee, and for a time at least, omit any 
form of opium, or morphine which may have been employ¬ 
ed. It is, however, a bad symptom, showing great pros¬ 
tration, greatly excited nervous sympathies, and is very apt 
to be a prelude to the coming of the Great Reaper. 

The most severe form of convulsions, perhaps with less 
struggling, but with more prolonged stupor, is seen when 
characterizing the onset of acute disease , and more especially 
of measles and scarlatina and smallpox, and the like. The 
persistence of lethargy, the complete unconsciousness and 
utter inability to be aroused, leads the physician to suspect 
some formidable disease to be behind all, and that this is 
but a masked battery. A few hours will tell the tale, if 
death does not prevent the manifestation of the eruption. 
The diagnosis is materially strengthened if these diseases 
are rife, and if the patient has been exposed to the infection. 

The treatment imperatively demanded is a brisk purge, 


306 


OUR CHILDREN . 


hot baths, hot, diluent drinks, ice to the head and neck, 
with every endeavor to draw the disease where it should 
be, to the skin. And this form of treatment is to be espe¬ 
cially called for, where, in the course of the disease, there is 
a sudden recession, with similar symptoms. These cases 
come so certainly under medical direction, that it is unnec¬ 
essary to enlarge upon the minute treatment. 

Blows and falls on the head are apt to occasion vomit¬ 
ing, showing concussion of the brain. If the skull is not 
fractured there is little danger to be apprehended. Still, 
if the stupor persists, and convulsions ensue, and there be 
any after want of perfect intelligence, or the usual bright¬ 
ness, there is danger of inflammation of the membranes of 
the brain, perhaps of its very substance. 

Under any circumstances, it is well to keep the child at 
home a few days, watching if any thing occurs, intermit¬ 
ting his studies till every sign of disturbance has passed 
away. 

If there be any hereditary taint, any consumption in the 
family, unusual care should be taken lest there ensue a 
tuberculous condition of the brain, marked by effusion, or 
what is called water on the brain. Should there be any 
doubt respecting this, you will get more than five dollars 
worth of comfort by consulting a judicious doctor, even if 
he should laugh at your foolish fears, and talk about “ hens 
with one chicken,” and the* like, in order to set your mind 
at rest. 

People pay willingly for a bottle of wine, or an opera 
ticket, but I have yet to see money give more satisfaction 
than when paid to a physician who says “ Go home, little 
woman, and don’t worry; your baby will be all right in a 
few days, and you will soon forget all about this bugbear 
of a fall.” 


CHAPTEE XX. 


TEETHING-CROUP-WHITE SWELLING 

T HE teetli are tlie source of an immense amount of suf¬ 
fering and trouble to the human race. Animals very 
rarely suffer in the wild state. The young get their milk- 
teeth, shed these, and their permanent set succeeds, with no 
trouble that is apparent to us. In the state of nature they 
rarely decay, and none but elephants, in the tame state 
ever have tooth-ache, or any decay of the teeth, of which 
we are aware. 

But the human animal—and the more civilized, the more 
troubled he is—from the cradle to the grave, finds in these 
organs a constant source of disease and annoyance. 

When about six months old, the child commences to bite 
while nursing, to seize upon every article within his reach, 
and carrying them to his mouth, to press his boneless gums 
upon them. The finger, placed in the mouth, will find the 
gums most generally hotter than natural, and somewhat 
protuberant, in either the under or upper pair, or both. 

Teeth usually come in sets of four, two upper and two 
lower. They often do appear very irregularly, sometimes 
the eye-teeth first, and indeed occasionally a molar, or 
double tooth, appears before any other ; but usually, it is 
the four front-teeth, first the two, either upper or lower, 
and then about a week after, the other pair. Then comes 
a rest of six or eight weeks, and then two on either side 
of those that first appeared, and after an interval of a week 
or ten days, the corresponding ones in the other jaw. 


308 


OUR CHILDREN. 


After another delay of a month or two, and the first four 
molars appear in the same manner. Again, a similar rest, 
and the next four molars, to he followed by another respite 
of about the same time, or a little longer, and then the eye 
and stomach-teeth appear. It will be some months still, 
before the final grinders fill the set, and this first teething 
is accomplished. 

IIow easy it is to describe all this, and how hard is the 
performance! If the poor little darlings suffer, in getting 
their mouthful correspondingly to what I did in getting 
four miserable wisdom-teeth, born to rot unseen, and waste 
their perfume—Lord! how I pity them ! 

And I have no doubt they do suffer. Feel their hot 
gums, their burning brows. See how the irritation is 
transferred to their vital organs, and their sweet food sours 
on their sympathizing stomachs, and they vomit its acid 
curds, and their suffering bowels reject it, green and noi¬ 
some. Their heated gums draw the blood to the head, and 
perhaps they are seized with convulsions. Yes, indeed, 
suffering and teeth are identical. 

And the physician endeavors to relieve the convulsions, 
by drawing the blood away from the head by hot applica¬ 
tions to the extremities, and by cooling applications to the 
throbbing brows. The teeth are restrained from protrud¬ 
ing, by some delay in the absorption of the thick, periosteal 
membrane overlaying the tooth, and with a lancet he divides 
this retarding band, and liberates the teeth, and relieved 
of the pressure, and also by the slight loss of blood from 
the over-loaded vessels, the pain is assuaged, the sympa¬ 
thetic convulsion passes away, and this difficulty ceases. 

Occasionally a child bleeds to death from the cutting of 
the gums, and parents sometimes wrongly blame the physi¬ 
cians for having done so. This is altogether an error. The 
doctor may have neither cut unskillfully nor improperly. 


CUTTING THE GUMS. 


309 


Had the gums not been divided, the child would probably 
have died from the congestion of the brain, and convulsion. 
The bleeding that resulted; was frpm the unsuspected exist¬ 
ence of another disease, called purpura hoem&rrhagica, 
which is a disease of the blood, and which would have 
manifested itself shortly in dysentery, or in blood spots, 
appearing under the skin, nose-bleed, &c, &c. 

Parents greatly err when they object to cutting the gums. 
The instances of any serious hemorrhage are extremely 
rare. Should there chance to be any bleeding after cutting, 
the mother would do well to send again for the physician; 
but, not waiting for him, endeavor to arrest the flow by 
putting a piece of ice upon the cut. If that does not ar¬ 
rest it, a piece of alum, sharpened to a point, and put into 
the cut itself, will probably stop it almost immediately. 
The doctor, when he comes, will be very apt to put a bit 
of cotton, moistened with the solution of the per-chloride 
of iron, or some other, powerful astringent into the wound. 
It is a good rule, before dividing the gums, to examine the 
child’s body and limbs carefully, to see if there be any pur¬ 
ple spots or marks, like the black and yellow discolorations 
from a bruise upon them. If these are found to be pres¬ 
ent, it is unsafe to cut the gums; and this generally trivial 
operation should not be ventured upon, unless the exigen¬ 
cies of the case are so great as to render it desirable to run 
the risk of the unfortunate occurrence alluded to. 

A more common, and often coincident symptom, is the 
disturbance of the digestive apparatus, manifesting itself in 
chronic diarrhoea, with accompanying vomitings, and in 
this country, what is called the “ summer-complaint ” of 
children. 

A previous article has fully alluded to this fearful 
scourge of New York, and this country generally. It is 
scarcely known in Europe, where the heat is not sufficient¬ 
ly intense to develop it with characteristic virulence. 


310 


OUR CHILDREN. 


CROUP. 

This a fearful disease. One retires at night happy in 
the possession of a blooming cherub, of a few months or 
as many years of age, in the flush of health and vigor, a 
sparkle in his eye, and a merry smile, or laughing prattle 
irradiating his beautiful face ; an hour has scarcely sped its 
fleeting course, when a hoarse, stridulous cough breaks on 
the ever-watchful ear of the fond parent, seeming a knell 
to all the proud hopes so warmly anticipated, so dearly 
cherished. No lightning flash from the serene and blue 
ether ever startled an unsuspecting people more suddenly 
than does this sound. “ It is the croup ” says the affrighted 
mother, and the cry echoes from one to another, and soon 
the disturbed household, and the hastily summoned physi¬ 
cian are gathered around the infant’s crib. The man of 
science questions the parents as to the exposure of the 
child during the day, perhaps finds that it has not been 
unusual, but a change in the atmosphere had suddenly 
come up during the day, while he was at his walk in the 
park ; or possibly, he had been carelessly left till after dark 
at play in the dampness of the yard or the street. 

The doctor proceeds, without further examination, to 
give the child a tea-spoonful of syrup of ipecac every quar¬ 
ter of an hour, till the stomach is thoroughly emptied. 
This answers a double purpose, for there is a form of croup 
of the spasmodic variety, which occurs in children between 
the first and third year, caused from the irritation of the 
gums, stomach, or bowels, but which rarely happens when 
children are fed on breast-milk till the first four teeth are 
cut, and properly fed afterward, and never after dentition 
is completed. 

Not unfrequently this ends the case, but the child may 
be hoarse through the few following days, and have milder 
attacks for several succeeding nights, and require a similar 


CROUP. 


311 


treatment, but this may usually be avoided by the admin¬ 
istration of a mild mercurial cathartic, say two or three 
grains of calomel, and twice as much powdered rhubarb^ 
on the morning following the attack, and by care to the 
diet, and confinement to a well-ventilated and dry apart¬ 
ment. 

But this may not be simple spasm, but an acute inflam¬ 
mation of the windpipe, extending upward to the larynx, 
and downward into the bronchia. The treatment so far, 
even if so, is preliminary and necessary as a preparation 
for the more active efficient treatment that may be render¬ 
ed requisite. 

The doctor, meantime, is inquiring of the parents if there 
is not an hereditary disposition to this disease in the fami¬ 
ly, as it is frequently; whether this or other children of the 
family have been affected by it previously. 

The disease has come on thus suddenly, with symptoms 
resembling a common catarrh, accompanied, as children’s 
coughs rarely are, with a hoarseness and wheezing, and the 
little fellow presses his hand upon his throat, and pinches 
up the skin. There is difficulty in speaking, and sometimes 
the voice is lost. These may be apparent for several days, 
gradually increasing, until the midnight alarm as above, 
when a violent paroxysm ensues, characterized by great 
restlessness, difficult sonorous breathing, hot skin, flushed 
face, quick and vibrating pulse, extreme anxiety, and agi¬ 
tation of the whole frame, followed by profuse perspiration, 
protrusion of the eye-balls, with a convulsive struggle to 
renew the respiration, frequent, clanging cough, accompa¬ 
nied by an expectoration of viscid phlegm, and sometimes 
of a flaky matter ; the effort to get rid of this seems some, 
times to threaten strangulation. Toward morning the 
symptoms decline, and the child, exhausted, falls asleep, and 
perhaps brightens up during the day; but unless the dis- 


312 


OUR CHILDREN. 


ease be relieved, all the alarming symptoms of suffocation, 
anxiety, and distress recur again at midnight, and go on 
from bad to worse. The obstruction to the passage of air 
is increased, perhaps by spasm of the glottis, the skin as¬ 
sumes a dusky hue, the blood not being fully oxygenated, 
the pulse becomes irregular and feeble, the head is thrown 
back in order to enable the air to pass dowm the blocked-up 
windpipe, the nostrils are in perpetual motion, the face is 
puffed, and the countenance of a pale, leaden hue, the eyes 
sink, and are covered with a film, and the child throws about 
his arms, or seizes his throat more violently, as if to remove 
the painful respiration ; drowsiness then comes on, and the 
breathing is interrupted, gasping and convulsive, and death 
closes the painful scene. 

This condensed history is present in the doctor’s mind, 
and he recognizes the necessity of prompt and efficient 
treatment. Without waiting for the effect of the medi¬ 
cines already administered, and convinced of the inflamma¬ 
tory nature of the present case, he takes a sponge about 
the size of a large fist, dips it in water as hot as the hand 
can bear, squeezes it half dry, and instantly applies it un 
der the little sufferers chin, over the larynx and windpipe ; 
when the sponge has been thus applied for a few minutes 
in contact with the skin, and its temperature lessened, he 
applies a second, and thus continuously until a vivid red¬ 
ness, but not a blister, is produced over the whole front of 
the throat. 

Besides the topical effect, a general profuse perspiration 
is produced, the inhalation of the steam has also a benefi¬ 
cial effect, and following it up by the administration of hot 
teas and drinks, a notable diminution soon takes place in 
the frequency and tone of the cough, while the hoarseness 
almost entirely disappears, and with it the hoarse, ringing 
voice, and the difficulty in breathing and restlessness; in 


CROUP. 


313 


short, all danger is over, and the little patient falls asleep, 
to wake the next morning, as if he had passed his usual 
quiet night. 

But if the doctor has not been summoned thus early, 
and the disease is already established, then only the most 
vigorous remedies can be resorted to. Leeches should be 
applied immediately to the throat—two to a child a year 
old, and one for any additional year to the extent of six, 
provided the child be robust; if delicate, a lesser number 
must suffice. Hive syrup must be substituted for the wine 
of ipecac, and given till full vomiting. This often causes 
pieces of the membrane, lining the tubes, sometimes in com¬ 
plete casts, to be thrown up. The child may now be en¬ 
veloped in a blanket wrung out of hot water, for ten min¬ 
utes, then rubbed dry, and put to bed. The violence of 
the disease is thus often arrested, and the patient with 
assiduous care, gradually convalesces. 

If there should be further trouble, we must rely upon 
constitutional remedies, a grain of calomel, with two of 
James’s powders every two or three hours ; if the paroxysms 
return, more leeches if the child can bear them, and a repe¬ 
tition of the hive syrup, ad nauseam. If all efforts are 
fruitless, as a last, almost hopeless resort, we may open the 
trachea by a surgical operation. 

During all this fearful scene, the anxious physician is 
ever thoughtful—he watches the child for signs of exhaus¬ 
tion; sees that it takes nourishment—thin chicken and 
veal soups, beef tea; stimulants of wine whey, a little 
brandy and water, and if exhausted, he gives eight grains 
of carbonate of ammonia, or a half drachm of sal volatile, 
or a drachm of brandy in an ounce of water; he keeps 
the room moist by vessels of hot water, and moderately 
warm. He returns home jubilant at a successful result, 
but is quite taken down by finding that, while he has been 


314 


OUR CHILDREN. ' 


spending a day or two with this case, some valuable patient, 
indignant at this willful neglect, has sent to discharge him 
from further attendance. Fortunate is he, if, when his 
yearly bills go in for this case, where the cure was owing 
to his skill, patience and assiduity, the collector does not 
report that “ Mr. B. thinks you ought to reduce that bill 
at least a half, as he has had but one case of sickness in the 
family for a year,” or else that “ Mr. B. had moved out to 
Minnesota, and owed everybody.” 

WHITE SWELLING. 

This is an old-fashioned name of a very common complaint. 
It was the popular appellation of the disease, and described 
in these two words, the general characteristic symptoms of 
the complaint, upon which the eye first rested, and which 
remained in the memory of the most ordinary observer. 

Since this name was first bestowed upon it, many-eyed Sci¬ 
ence has come and looked deeper, and sharper, and longer, 
and has discovered that there are other characteristics even 
more marked than the pellucid blanching, than the smooth, 
puffed, well-rounded limb—w T hich obvious appearance 
originated the common-place name. Science marked its 
discoveries by a new appellation, and the disease ne& white 
swelling, since the alliance with Science, is recognized as 
Hydrarthrus, a term by which its best friends would not 
surely know it, as it means water in the joint, whereas, 
this is quite another disease, with in fact, no water at all 
in the joint. 

The exact character of wdiite swelling is still in some 
doubt, owing to the imperfect knowledge we have of the 
diseases of the bones. It is probably, a tuberculous con¬ 
dition of the cartilaginous bones of the joint, inasmuch as 
it is most apt to be seen in strumous children, who, if re¬ 
lieved from this difficulty, are very apt to afterward have 


WHITE SWELLING. 315 

some further form of tuberculosis of a more recognizable 
character. 

This disease very frequently follows a severe fall, accom¬ 
panied by a wrench, or bruise of the hip, or knee-joint. 
Indeed, after a swelling with accompanying pain, is 
observed in the joint of a child, it is very easy to recall 
some fall, or accident w T ithin a month’s time previous, suf¬ 
ficient to account for its commencement. 

If the doctor does what is right in the case—and won’t 
doctors try to do so ?—he orders perfect rest from the move¬ 
ment of the joint, and the removal of the pressure upon 
it from bearing the weight of the body. Probably he or¬ 
ders a splint, peculiarly adapted for this purpose, to be 
placed on it, which, while giving freedom of the limb and 
joint, thus allowing full motion, yet takes off all the per¬ 
pendicular pressure. He locally applies embrocations, 
plasters, &c., with the grand aim to withdraw the irrita¬ 
tion, inflammation and disease from the joint interiorly, 
where it could do irreparable injury to the exterior, where 
no permanent hurt of any importance could be effected. 

The removal of the pressure prevents any increase of, at 
the same time relieving the pain, while internal treatment 
of a tonic and alterative character—iron and iodine—tends 
to build up the general health, restore any anti-cachectic 
tendencies, and thus one is left with the cure in his own 
hands. 

A recent remedy of considerable potency, is a pill of 
iodoform and iron, from a prescription of Dr. Kennedy of 
Baltimore. But all tonic, and especially ferruginous alter¬ 
atives, require a persistence in their use not generally 
given to them. Patients seem very often to acquire an 
aversion to taking medicines, from which they are marked¬ 
ly deriving benefit, and to none more than to iron, when 
its use has evidently cured them of a long-seated trouble. 


316 


OUR CHILDREN. 


It is a curious perversity of human nature. In most cases, 
where iron is demanded as a constitutional alterative and 
tonic, it should be persistently taken, for at least a year. 
It is one of the natural elements in the animal economy, 
and its absence, as marked by a disease, is not to be made 
up by a spurt of medicine-taking ; it must be slowly, and 
gradually allowed to permeate the entire system by a small, 
but long-continued medication. In the same manner, after 
a prolonged drouth in summer, external nature may be 
refreshed by the furious onset of a thunder-shower, whose 
desired rain mostly flows off into the streams and lakes, 
but it is the early rains, and the latter rains, that, with 
their slowly descending profusion, not only water the super¬ 
ficial verdure, but nourish the deep, spreading roots of the 
majestic oaks, and refill the well-nigh exhausted reservoirs 
beneath the mountains—the great springs from whence 
flow health and life. 

Too often, alas! the neglect or disregard of the proper 
guardians of children has allowed the disease to advance, 
until there is ulceration in the joint, caries in the bones, an 
immense swelling all around, an inability to step on the limb, 
general constitutional disturbance, hectic fever, loss of ap¬ 
petite—almost death. There is pus in the synovial cavity 
—perhaps there are numerous external openings, through 
which it flows out. The integrity of the articulation is 
forever gone. Still, something is to be done. 

Fortunately, our progressive science has within the last 
quarter of a century, advanced so as to give relief to those 
that, before that time, were left to die. We have learnt 
that there exists large pieces of carious and dead bone within 
the joint, and that these are destined to ulcerate, soften, and 
flow away,before a^ure can be effected. There is but one que- 
ry. Will the patient die from the prolonged exhaustion be¬ 
fore this is effected ? Too often this is the case. Indeed, it is 


THE GROWTH OF MEDICINE\ 


317 


so in the great majority of cases. Some few only, having 
the natural strength of constitution, the means for care, for 
food, for change of climate, for medical skill and surgical 
appliance, survive the strain to the system. 

But poor or miserable, neither humanity, nor science 
allow the Great Conqueror so speedy a victim. Charity 

Wide spreads the everlasting doors, 

On golden hinges turning, 

of numerous infirmaries and hospitals, where the cachectic 
sufferers of every clime can bring their emaciated frames, 
and find consolation and comfort; and Science, almost 
God-like, even at this desperate extremity, brings an unex¬ 
pected relief. It acts in the direction of nature, and with¬ 
out awaiting its tardy efforts, cuts into the joint, enlarges 
the insufficient openings, removes the dead incubus, and 
then assists enfeebled nature, by stimulus and support, to 
the comparatively slight work of healing the wounds, and 
bloom and vigor soon come to fill the hollowed cheek, to 
brighten the lack-lustred eye, and to recuperate the wasted 
energies. 

Yet, in the face of a miracle like this, an advance in 
medical knowledge and surgical skill—and this is but one 
in the multitude of grand achievements in medicine, during 
the last quarter of a century alone—the thoughtless com¬ 
munity inveigh against the impotence of medical science, 
and surgical art. 

Why! the wonders and benefits from telegraphy, and 
steam, and photography, great and valuable as they are, 
shrink into nothingness, before the achievements produced 
in ameliorating human woes, by the discovery of chloro¬ 
form, in the treatment of female diseases—nay, even by 
the advances in the comparatively trivial improvements in 
dentistry. 

Faster than the needle-gun and the mitrailleuse can maim 


318 


OUR CHILDREN. 


and kill, surgical art cures and restores to vigor. What 
army would dare march to battle, -without its attendant 
corps of surgeons ? What emperor or private would 
expose himself to the risk, not of death, but of suffering, 
without a certainty that the Lethean Waters were ready to 
Assuage those agonies which are temporarily more dreaded 
than mutilation and death? 

Nor are its energies exhausted, or its discoveries ended. 
Fresh spirits are constantly coming up, with new powers 
of observation, and starting from new and advanced paral¬ 
lels. This army is irresistible ; before it, doubt and uncer¬ 
tainty flee away. Disease and suffering will be conquered, 
but death is invincible. 


MUMPS. 

Among the diseases of childhood, mumps hold a very 
important place, inasmuch as it seems a necessity of exist¬ 
ence, an affection, which sooner or later, every one must 
have. When it comes in youth, it is most generally, an 
affair of little importance, in fact, it has an amusing side 
to it, as it so distorts the face, as to sometimes give quite a 
ludicrous aspect to the individual. 

The learned call it by the hard name of Cynanche Faro - 
tidea, because it commences with an inflammation of the 
parotid gland, one of the largest of the glandular bodies, 
under the chin, whose object is the secretion of saliva, and 
the fluids of the throat. The Scotch call it the branks , 
while among the people generally, it is known as the 
mumps. 

It is evidently very contagious in its nature, and runs 
through families, schools, and villages, spreading from a 
single case, till every one not previously affected, has had 
it, for it rarely passes any one by. 

It usually commences with a slight swelling, coming 


MUMPS. 


319 


under tlie ear, which gradually increases, till it presses 
painfully on the carotid artery, and its accompanying nerve, 
and even also by the simple stretching of the skin, gives 
no little uneasiness. Sometimes the inflammation is thus 
limited, but usually the sub maxillary glands adjacent, unite 
in the swelling, and appear magnified, tender to the touch, 
and greatly distorting the countenance. 

In more severe cases, there is coincidently a similar affec¬ 
tion on the other side, not always, but most generally, at 
the same time, although sometimes in succession. This 
swelling fixes the head in a very steady position, as it can¬ 
not be moved forward and backward, sideways, or in any 
oscillatory manner. The mouth too, cannot be opened; 
and the movements of the tongue, and muscles of degluti¬ 
tion are so much impeded, that it is with great difficulty, 
that enough food and drink can be taken for the necessities 
of the body, for the stomach and body generally sympa¬ 
thize but slightly with the local difficulty, and both drink, 
and food would be very acceptable. 

There are however, some little febrile symptoms, but gen¬ 
erally slight in apparent proportion to the seeming gravity 
of the affection. 

What the object of the disease is, we cannot surmise, 
the glands swell to a certain point, then subside, and no 
trace remains ; there is rarely any suppuration, there is no 
secretion, there is no apparent result. It is like the old 
story of the king who, with ten thousand men, marched 
up the hill, and then—marched down again. 

The disease reaches its height in about four days, and is 
as long in receding, so that its whole course is run, in from 
eight to ten days. 

The treatment is very simple, heat in any form, is most 
grateful; hot flannels and huge poultices of bread and 
milk, or flaxseed-meal, are both useful and agreeable. 


320 


OUR CHILD REX. 


if not ornamental. I have found the leaves of the stra¬ 
monium plant, known as the thorn apple, dipped in hot 
water and applied, to greatly relieve the pain. A sedlitz 
powder occasionally will allay the fever, and sometimes, a 
single drop of the Tincture of Aconite, every hour in a lit¬ 
tle water, will also conduce to this end. 

No attempt should be made to drive it back by the use 
of cold applications, ice &c., as a peculiarity of this com¬ 
plaint,is for it to suddenly recede from the parts affected, and 
speedily reappear in some other locality, perhaps upon the 
other side; far worse, if in this metastasis it attacks the 
genital organs, as it not unfrequently does, upon exposure 
to a draft of air. When it attacks the breast of the girl, it 
can do little injury, and soon passes away, but inflammation 
of the testicles of the youth may disorganize these organs, 
and result in subsequent impotence. 

But far more dangerous is the metastasis to the brain. 
We have then all the symptoms of brain fever, and a series 
of circumstances of great importance necessarily resulting 
therefrom. 

Our first effort in this latter case is to endeavor to make 
it quit this location, and return to its former locality. We 
are then authorized to put ice on the head, apply leeches, 
or bleed, for no worse metastasis can ever occur, and any 
change is for the better. 

Fortunately, formidable as the symptoms appear, the 
result is usually to be favorably prognosticated. Sup‘ 
puration in any of the glands is very rare, and the limita¬ 
tion of time itself, arrests many apparently serious symp¬ 
toms. 

Like all infantile diseases, when defered to adolescence 
or to advanced age—and we see them occasionally in people 
of sixty or seventy—their importance is much greater, and 
their treatment are often dependent upon various co 1 
cations, and may require the utmost abilities of the • 
physician. ~~ 






















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CHAPTER XXI/ 


SLEEP, ITS USES AND ABUSES. 


“ 0 magic sleep! 0 comfortable bird 
That broodest o’er the troubled sea of mind, 

Till it is hushed and smooth!” — Keats. 


“ Sleep—gentle sleep, 

Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, 

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, 

And steep my senses in forgetfulness.” — Shakespeare. 


T HE. poets have indeed said much and well respecting 
sleep—the only realm on earth where men are equal— 
where the poorest may have kingly, ay, angelic visitors; 
may dwell in supernal realms, and be clothed in the gossa¬ 
mer fabric of the rainbow; where all wants are gratified, 
and in dreams we soar into an empyrean, even beyond the 
heavens. But if the poets can portray the delights of sleep, 
the physician can produce the reality, which they vainly 
seek to describe in the feeble language of the mundane 
sphere, above which, sleep soars. 

Sleep is not only the solace of all woes, but it is the cra¬ 
dle of powder, strength, the main supporter of life, and the 
invigorating source to wdiich all nature goes for relief. It 
is the only bodily refreshing that does not carry with it 
something of degradation, and a sense of abasement. The 
emperor, in regal pride, who dines in state, confesses to a 
human nature when, like ordinary subjects, he takes his 
necessitated food ; and the delicate maiden unwittingly con¬ 
fesses that such an ethereal nature is yet subjected to the 
demands of appetite. Xeither would willingly be portrayed 
by the limner’s cunning art, engaged in the degrading em¬ 
it* 


322 


OUR CHILDREN. 


ployment of eating and drinking; yet each would gladly 
be perpetuated, in the purity of marble, or on the glowing 
canvas, wrapped in peaceful slumbers, beyond the rule of 
e arth, and yet falling short of heaven. 

Sleep may be considered by poets—just as they please, 
as 

“ The twin sister of death,” 


or 

or as 


** Tired Nature’s sweet restorer—balmy sleep,” 


“ The innocent sleep; 

Sleep that knits up the raveled sleeve of care, 

The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath'; 
Balm of hurt minds, great Nature’s second course, 
Chief nourisher in life’s feast 


but the physician, a less imaginative descendant of Apollo, 
considers sleep only as a natural or unnatural visitor, bring¬ 
ing relief to mortals here below. 

The new-born child spends the greater portion of its time 
in profound sleep, broken only by brief intervals of wake¬ 
fulness, almost entirely devoted to the bodily necessities. 
Any inability to sleep'is considered as an evidence of some 
lurking and unrecognized disease. 

With advancing years, a less prolonged, but still as ne¬ 
cessitous sleep follows hard upon the occupations of the 
wearisome day, and bringing in its train relief and strength¬ 
ening. There is great diversity in the quantity of sleep 
required by different individuals. The late Dr. Francis, 
for many years of his later life, was sufficiently refreshed 
by three or four hours’ sleep; usually the former number 
sufficed. Most adults require seven or eight hours, but 
this depends upon the mental character of the person, and 
his employment. The day-laborer, engaged in toilsome 
work, requires prolonged bodily rest, of which sleep may 
or not be present, while the man actively employing his 


SLEEP OF CHILDREN. 


323 


brain, requires no more rest than is accompanied with 
sleep. Growing children, or hard students, require very 
prolonged sleep to refresh the brain, overtaxed by exhaust¬ 
ing exertion. 

I have adopted a rule in regard to the sleep of children. 
I send them to bed at a certain hour, for a week. If dur- 
that time, they have awakened at too early an hour, I per¬ 
mit them to retire a half-hour later, until the time is so 
gauged that they awake from a sufficiency of sleep at the 
required hour, without being called. 

Sleep is especially requisite for the young, and its length 
should not be curtailed for any reason, as its deprivation 
will inevitably result in disease of a serious nature. A 
healthy child cannot sleep too much, and any prolonged 
period required, only shows that the exhaustion of the men¬ 
tal powers demand the supplementation of a prolonged rest. 
Children very rarely are disturbed in their rest, and then 
almost always from some irritation of the stomach and 
bowels—flatulency, the result of eating too much, or at im¬ 
proper hours, and too little exercise in connection with it. 
The want of sleep in children is of rare occurrence, and 
when noticed by the parent, it should be brought under 
proper medical attendance, and the cause of the difficulty 
inquired into carefully, and relieved, if possible. 

The inability of adults to sleep is more important. If 
there is any marked reason for the insomnolence, as watch¬ 
ing the sick, or sudden mental disquietude, there is less call 
for alarm. But when a continued mental anxiety for a 
long period hks driven “ sleep from the eyes, and slumber 
from the eyelids,” such as is often noticed among business 
men, in seasons of great financial disturbances, there is 
threatening disease, danger of some cerebral, inflammatory 
action, or more serious disorganization, that may destroy 
the intellect. 

Want of sleep is rarely ^noticed in the young. Their 


324 


OUR CHILDREN. 


mental disquietudes are of a very temporary nature. They 
have none of that 

“ Golden care, 

That keep’st the ports of slumber open wide 

To many a watchful night.” 

for, “ pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw,” their griefs 
and worries are easily assuaged. Children usually fall 
short in the quantity of sleep, for the active limbs require 
rest, and the expanding frame a time of quiet, when the 
aggregated particles requisite for growth may have time to 
be deposited in place, crystallize, and become one flesh. I 
do not believe that children can have too much sleep, espe¬ 
cially the thin, nervous children of cities, where the strain 
upon the intellect and senses is so constant and excessive. 
It is with great reluctance that I would awake a child from 
a profound slumber. It it was deemed important that one 
should rise at a specified hour for breakfast, for school, for 
any employment, and day after day the child required 
awaking, and then showed that still more sleep was desira¬ 
ble, no matter how long it had been kept up, I would send 
the child to bed a half-hour earlier every night, until the 
requisite quantnm was supplied. 

The American people, whether on account of the climate, 
the activity and energetic nature, resulting from the min¬ 
gled races from which it is composed, or the effects of po¬ 
litical and religious liberty, and the freedom of its institu¬ 
tions, giving full range to ambition, and reward to enterprise 
and labor—whatever may be the cause, the Americans are 
the most nervous people in the world. Other nations are 
temporarily more excitable, others more doggedly persist¬ 
ent; but the inhabitants of the Western Continent in the 
North, combine a most wonderful enthusiasm with the 
most adherent pertinacity. They do not walk, but run, 
and decision follows prompt upon inception. 


AMERICAN CHARACTERISTICS. 


325 


These peculiar elements of nervous energy, long recognized 
as existing and forming one of the most conspicuous char¬ 
acteristics, of the new people called Americans, have not 
been adequately considered, in their hygienic and physical 
aspects. True, some writers and superficial thinkers, have 
sought to connect this nervous excitability with the thin 
and angular figures of the people generally, their want of 
adipose material, and glandular development, while others 
have ascribed these physical peculiarities rather to the in¬ 
fluence of the extremes of temperature, and absence of hu¬ 
midity characteristic of the country. 

In this connection, it is requisite only to recognize the 
general peculiarities of disposition and temper, just referred 
to, and to use such prophylactic methods of relief as shall 
best conduce to avert any excess which may be particularly 
detrimental to especial individuals. I consider that sleep 
is among the most important of these means of allaying 
nervous irritability. Children, as I have already dictatori- 
ally advised, should be encouraged in this natural instinctive 
quiescence. 

And here, I will mention that in cases of illness, unless 
special directions are given, no one, young or old, should 
be awakened for the purpose of giving medicines; and if 
they are to be administered at any regular specific period, and 
the patient should chance to be asleep, they should be given 
immediately afterward upon awaking, and the period for 
the next dose should be the prescribed number of hours 
after this administration, thus commencing from a new 
starting-point. 

Again, I have sometimes noticed, in most persons serious¬ 
ly ill, and more frequently from some fall, or other injury 
about the head, that the attendants think it very important 
to awaken them at certain intervals, with the idea that 
“ such continued sleep was debilitating.” This should not 


326 


OUR CHILDREN'. 


be done unless by express direction from the attending 
surgeons. Sleep is itself one of the grandest alleviators ot 
suffering, and restorers of health, and it should not be ig¬ 
norantly interfered with. Sleep differs greatly in degree, 
as well as in duration. Children are apt to sleep profoundly. 
Ordinary sounds do not awaken them, and they even can 
endure some slight operations, like piercing the ears and 
vaccination, without being aroused. So profound is the 
slumber that the sphincters of the emunctories of the skin 
are relaxed, and profuse perspiration bedews the pillow. 
There is also entire prostration of the muscular energies, 
and advantage is taken of this fact to test the statements 
made by conscripts desirous of avoiding military duty, and 
old soldiers to be invalided on account of certain rheumatic 
and other stiffnesses, which prevent their efficiently moving 
a limb. The relaxation produced by sleep, fully shows the 
sham endeavored to be passed off. 

Some seem to find in sleep little rest but of the muscles, 
for the active mind is filled wfitli visions of dreamy imag¬ 
ining, and in many of these, the muscles act in conformity 
to the mental desires. Such uneasy sleep finds one awa¬ 
kening after a night, as mentally worn as if engaged in the 
active labors of the day. There has been no rest to the 
brain, whose futile labors have exhausted its energies as 
fully as if employed upon some productive work. 

There is great anxiety expressed by many as to the method 
of their life—what to eat, what to drink, how to dress 
themselves, the exercise they should take, respecting their 
amusdbients. In short, every detail of life is submitted to 
a scrutiny, in order that the most salubrious may be selected, 
which shall make life happy and enduring. But of one- 
third, at least, of the twenty-four hours they take very little 
regard. How to sleep, when to sleep, where to sleep— 
these are all summed up in one demand, Give me something 


THE TIME FOR SLEEP. 327 

soft to sleep upon, and in summer, something cool on which 
to repose. 

WHEN SHALL WE SLEEP?-THE HOURS OF SLEEP. 

Great stress is made by certain persons, respecting the 
portion of the twenty-four hours that shall he devoted to 
sleep. Many have an idea that those immediately follow¬ 
ing the setting of the sun are the most healthy, and some 
even have a kind of adage running in their minds to the 
effect, that an hour before midnight is worth two after that 
witching epoch. They derive, too, a sort of imaginary log¬ 
ical reason in their support, from the fact that most birds 
and animals sleep from sunset to sunrise. They forget that 
they are compelled to choose this time, as they can do 
nothing else ; had they vision capable of seeing at all hours, 
it is very possible that they would not select those hours so 
exclusively as they do now, by compulsion. As it is, many 
of these animals, as those of the cat kind, who are able to 
see equally well by day and by night, seem rather to prefer 
the night for almost all their various avocations. 

A great number of the nations of the world “ turn night 
into day,” and with no apparent detriment to their health, 
or deterioration of the race. All the fashionable -world of 
Europe, and the better classes generally, begin the day long 
after the sun has arisen, and end it by the light of Dian’s 
lamp. Laborers and mechanics, who require a good light 
for their occupations, are compelled to work between suns; 
while the man of letters prefers the quiet of night, and the 
“ midnight oil ” to marshal his forces. 

So far as health is concerned, we may each make our 
own judgments upon the following facts: The thermo¬ 
metric and hydrometric conditions of the air are more con¬ 
ducive to health and vigor, when influenced by the revivi¬ 
fying light of the sun. This is not felt for several hours 


328 


OUR CHILDREN. 


after its rising, as its beams are not sufficiently powerful to 
dry up the dews, and drive away the pestilential vapors, and 
for any out-of-door employment, there are no hours more 
noxious than those immediately after sunrise. On the 
other hand, the genial influence of the day-god remains for 
several hours after the light has departed, its effects— 
warmth and dryness—lasting for quite a prolonged period 
afterward, as variously determined by the wind, the season, 
and other accompanying influences. 

In former times the light was an important consideration, 
as the feeble candle tried the strength of the eyes; but 
improved means of illumination have rendered this a matter 
of less importance to the scholar, the seamstress, and la¬ 
borers of this description. 

The warmth of the house at night, in the winter season, 
as compared with its discomfort in the early morning, is 
another reason for choosing the quiet of night, instead of 
the distracting bustle of day, for all studious employments. 

As, formerly, people supposed that they must derive 
benefit from nauseous barks, and detestible bitters, and 
puckery acids—the viler-tasting and more disgusting, the 
better—so the fact, “ to get up with the lark,” and shiver 
and shake, was deemed most meritorious, merely because 
it required such an effort of will, and was contrary to the 
desires of nature—that poor nature, we were taught never 
was to have its own way in anything. 

Among the miseries and horrors of young life is, they 
are made to get up and take a walk for health—Heaven 
save the mark!—before breakfast. I sincerely hope that 
the first that orders this refinement of cruelty may be 
compelled to ride for two hours after sunset, for a year, in 
Central Park. I know he’ll have fever and ague in three 
weeks’ time, and not get over it permanently until five 
years have gassed away, while he has slept in his bed like 


THE PLACE FOR SLEEP. 329 

a Christian, and until decent hours and breakfast have en¬ 
abled him to commence the day properly. 

WHERE SHALL WE SLEEP. 

Those dwelling in cities have generally little choice, the 
houses being so constructed that all the apartments are 
equally salubrious, but those living in the country have a 
greater choice. The room should be elevated above the 
ground. There is a great tendency to miasmatic disease 
every-w'here in the country—not always manifesting itself 
by intermittents, but equally as surely by typhus and vari¬ 
ous slow and exhausting fevers. To avoid this, the bed¬ 
room should be elevated from the ground. In fact, there 
should be no rooms without a cellar underneath. It is far 
better to sleep in the second story than on the ground floor, 
—especially if the cellar is filled with fruit and vegetables, 
as it usually is in winter. 

Wherever the bed-room is, in city or country, on the 
first floor or third, it should be visited freely by the sun. 
Houses covered by the shade of trees, so as to be without 
a visit from the full rays of the sun to thoroughly dry, and 
heat, and aerate—way through the roof and sides, affecting 
every nook and corner—are more or less unhealthy, ac¬ 
cording as these are more or less fully affected. It may 
be hot in summer to roasting, and cold in winter to freez¬ 
ing, under the roof of a country house, but it is healthy, 
and children who spend their youthful days, or rather their 
nights, there, will probably grow up healthy, and free from 
cachexy. 

Trundle-beds—low beds, almost or quite on the floor— 
are unhealthy. The worst portions of the air go either to 
the top of the room—carried thither by the heat which 
they may contain—or, if cold, will fall to the floor by their 
weight, as carbonic acid gas—the principal ingredient—of 


« 


330 


OUR CHILDREN. 


foul air is heavier than the more nutritious elements of 
ordinary breathing air. 

One of the reasons why so many children die in closely 
packed tenement-houses is, that so many sleep in a single 
room, and the little ones are placed in their beds on the 
floor, and have the carbonic acid gas from the stove, and 
from the breaths of all the tenants of the room, and this, 
continued night after night, sows the seeds of death. This 
mortality is greatly diminished since the Board of Health 
has prohibited all cellar and underground residences for 
any class of people. Till this was done, the children had 
also the impure air settling from the wdiole street, and the 
damp from the ground immediately under their floors. 

WHAT SHALL WE SLEEP ON? 

Want and privation will enable one to sleep on the cold 
earth, wrapped in a blanket for warmth, with the head 
pillowed on a stone, but as we find ourselves bettered in 
condition, we seek for a softer bed. The emigrant finds 
straw and leaves, and, after a little time, feathers enough 
for a couch. As he increases in wealth and ease, he but 
exercises more care in selecting his straw and feathers, and 
perhaps taking corn-husks. Straw and husks are healthy 
enough, but too hard and uncomfortable to be pleasant. 
Feathers are too soft and enervating in their effects. They 
induce a debilitating action of the skin, and are exhausting 
and very objectionable for the young. More especially, 
they have a markedly bad effect upon children. Feather 
pill ows are especially injurious for teething-children. They 
naturally have a great rush of blood to the head, which is 
augmented by the anti-radiating nature of the feather, and 
convulsions and other brain difficulties are liable to ensue 
therefrom. 

The stimulation accompanying puberty receives an inju¬ 
rious excitation from the heat of feathers. 


ON WHAT TO SLEEP. 


331 


Hair mattresses have been, till quite recently, the best 
beds and pillows made. Hair does not allow such an ac¬ 
cumulation of heat, with its exhausting results, as feathers. 
This is not desirable for the old, who have no extra vigor, 
and to whom softness and heat are necessary. A hair 
mattress, upon the steel-spring bed, combines the highest 
delights of sleeping with the most perfect salubrity, for 
healthy adults not beyond the medium age, and more par¬ 
ticularly in warm weather. The hair acting as a rapid 
conductor of the animal caloric, the body is cooled and 
rested at the same time. In fact, this radiation is so great, 
that one cannot keep sufficiently warm in a cold winter 
room, with any amount of covering over him, unless this 
radiation is arrested by a woolen blanket under the sheet, 
and over the mattress, or a feather-bed or wool-mattress 
under it. Unfortunately, these beds are very expensive, 
when made of the best material, breed moths and harbor 
vermin, and, when poor, are offensive to the smell, hard 
and knotty, and soon w'orn out, and therefore we are glad 
to find a substitute of a most delightful character, cheap, 
soft, salubrious, in sponge, kept pliable and springy by 
glycerine. It is entirely free from the objections just al¬ 
luded to, somewhat less of a radiator of heat than hair, 
molding itself more to the shape of the person, and in every 
respect, a most delightful bed. For winter, and more par¬ 
ticularly for the aged, and those who like a luxurious couch, 
the sponge is preferable even to hair, while for children 
who kick off the clothes, and lie exposed a great part of 
the time, it is especially useful. Its introduction into gen¬ 
eral use, forms an era in luxury, so rarely combined 
with health. 

India-rubber beds, filled with air or water, have never 
been introduced into general use, and probably never will, 
as they are too liable to be injured, and even a prick with 


332 


OUR CHILDREN. 


a pin will seriously affect their utility. They are of great 
value in certain cases of illness, w T here it is desirable for 
the pressure to be radiated over a large surface, rather than 
to be made upon any projecting portion, and also where 
the least jar is to be avoided. The w T ater-beds have the 
same objection of radiating the heat, already alluded to. 

But better than all beds, a good digestion and a quiet 
conscience make sleep the sweetest, and most easily ob¬ 
tained. Without these, though pillowed on down, and 
fanned by most delicious breezes, sleep will flee away, and 
the morning light will find one little refreshed. 

SLEEPLESSNESS FROM DISEASE. WIIAT SHALL BE DONE FOR IT. 

“ Like a coy maiden, sleep when courted most, 

Farthest retires.” 

Sometimes indeed, with all our efforts, sleep flies the 
eyelids. The sleep that is but wakefulness from over anx¬ 
iety may be exhausting to body and nerves, but it has 
rarely any dangerous results. The watchful mother, who 
for nights and days refuses to leave her sick child’s pillow, 
the husband who sits after days of toil, night after night, 
by the bedside of his chosen partner of life, grow haggard 
and worn, but a few weeks of rest, with the joy attendant 
upon a happy recovery of the loved one, is quite sufficient 
to bring back the primitive brilliancy to the lack-lustre eye, 
and color to the pallid cheek. 

The anxieties of business too, will have its wakeful 
nights, and watchings, and tossings, upon the sleepless 
bed, but, a settlement of affairs, either bankruptcy, or a 
happy turn in events, will bring repose and the welcome 
slumber. 

These sleepless nights bring no anxiety to the attending 
physician, for he sees an adequate cause, sufficient to ac¬ 
count for all, and he knows that so soon as this cause is 
“ let up,” or removed, the trouble will depart. 


SLEEPLESSNESS. 


333 


When we have these comparatively unimportant wake¬ 
fulnesses, we endeavor to encourage the patient to throw 
otf their cares; but few however, can do it. We then seek 
for some hypnotic, some mild sleep producer. With trivial 
troubles of the young, such as the anxiety for school hon¬ 
ors, or some anticipation of coming pleasure, we propose 
saying the multiplication table, the alphabet backward, or 
some simple diversion for the thoughts like this. For the 
nervous, anxious mother, we advise a tea-spoonful of the 
Spirits of Fed Lavender, or Fluid Extract of Yalerian, or 
Tincture of Lupulin, in a little water at bedtime, and re¬ 
peat every hour till sleep. 

To the business man we say, take a mug of pale ale, 
Scotch Ale, or Lager Beer, at bed time. A glass of spirits 
will be of utility sometimes, but will not do to take often 
for such a purpose. 

Often, one goes to sleep immediately upon lying down, 
and very soon wakes again, belches some wind, the cause 
of his sudden awakening, lies down and immediately is 
asleep again, to be roused again and again, and with the 
same eructations. This is a frequent occurrence with 
youth, as well as business men, and markedly so in tea, and 
molasses, and sugar dealers. It is an evidence of some 
dyspepsia dependent upon over taxing of the stomach, and 
consequent exhaustion of that necessary appendage to hu¬ 
manity. 

Sometimes it comes from eating too late dinners, some¬ 
times from quantity, and at others from the quality; some¬ 
times it is simply a nervous sympathy with mental 
disquietude. Whatever the cause, sleep is the symptom, 
and the very worst thing that could be done, would be to 
attempt to cure the symptom, or in other words, to give 
medicine to produce sleep. The trouble is elsewhere, and 
the cause must be discovered and corrected. A few doses 


334 


OUR CHILDREN. 


of some narcotic might be administered, and an ignorant, 
or conscience-less doctor would do this. The result would 
be that the patient would for a while think that his doctor 
was “ as smart as they made them,” but in a short time he 
would find that he was much worse than before, and his 
condition far worse for a chance of relief, than it was when 
he first commenced his narcotic regimen. 

It is only when sleeplessness comes on with no discern- 
able cause, that we can find after diligent search, that the 
matter is really serious. When there is no business 
trouble, no family jars, no loss of friends, no anxieties about 
wife or child or parent, then we fear. The secret cause is 
too apt to be some serious disorganization going on, some 
chronic brain disease, some insidious lurking degeneration 
which is corrupting the blood, and tainting the great 
sources of life. In children, this is apt to be the fore-run¬ 
ner of tuberculous disease of the brain, a malady full of 
threatenings, too apt to be well founded. 

In adults it is often symptomatic of softening of the 
brain, of various degenerations of the kidneys, or Bright’s 
Disease, Diabetes, &c. These require careful attention ? 
and the careful study of an able medical man. The busi¬ 
ness man should resolutely put away his ledger, and his 
business habits, and even his thoughts, and devote himself 
to self restoration, and that too, without anxiety, or the 
“ fussing,” in which so many delight. 

Most medicines taken into the stomach to act upon the 
brains are apt to re-act upon the stomach, and a persistence 
in these medicines, whether they do any marked good or 
not, is pretty sure to disorder the stomach and bowels of 
most. 

The last new medicine of alleged wondrous virtues— 
some of which depend upon the exaggerations of quackish 
advertisements—is the Hydrate of Chloral. , This expensive 


DRUGS FOR SLEEP. 


335 


salt is given in doses of twenty grains in a wine glass of 
water, and has generally a speedy and tranquillizing effect, 
generally however, of quite a temporary character. It is, 
however, in my own experience, followed by little or no 
subsequent nausea, or disagreeable sensations,, and on that 
account, is quite a valuable addition to our pharmacopoeia. 
It is not however, a persistent sleep-producer, but is better 
adapted for some temporary purpose. In connection with 
a pillow stuffed 'with the hop flower, I have noted its some¬ 
times producing a continuous sleep. 

When sleeplessness is the result of acute pain from almost 
any cause, as colic, neuralgia, rheumatic, or gouty dis¬ 
eases, or anything of that character, our chief reliance is in 
some of the effects of the jpapaver somniferum. Opium, 
morphia, or codea are indispensible. This gum is the basis 
of all the children’s soothing syrups, ladies nervines, and 
nervous medicines that are sold. Its prolonged use is ex¬ 
ceedingly deleterious to the system, as observed in the 
pallid countenances of nurse-children brought up by hand, 
and in the opium eaters, the slaves to this foul habit. One 
should commence its use in a chronic case with great hesi¬ 
tancy, so difficult is it to break off the use of it after being 
accustomed to its stimulus for a season of weeks or months. 
There is no form of intoxication so enticing, so difficult to 
abandon, so utterly nervous, and disgusting. 

When a speedy quiescence from pain, and rapid sleep is 
desired, we may give it in the following recipe, when its 
effects are heightened, and made more rapid by the volatile 
influence of ^Etlier. 


Magendie’s Solution of Morphia Sulph., 1 dr. 



2 dr. 
6 dr. 


Syrup Aurantii Flor., 
./Ether Chloric, 


Mix. 


Take a tea-spoonful in a wine glass of water every half hour 
till relieved. 


336 


OUR CHILDREN. 


The most recent form of administering this and other 
similar medicines, is the hyperdermic—viz: by injecting a 
strong solution of morphia under the skin, by means of a 
small syringe and a hollow needle. The skin is pinched 
firmly, so as to make it somewhat benumbed, and through 
the raised portion on the arm, leg, or body, as desired, the 
needle is plunged into the subcutaneous cellular tissue, 
carefully avoiding the location of any blood-vessels. The 
contents of the syringe are then thrown under the skin, 
the needle withdrawn, a finger placed for a moment upon 
the slight orifice, and then the discharged fluid, which 
forms a lump immediately under the skin, should be slightly 
rubbed, so as to distribute the fluid more extensively under 
the skin, and in a very few minutes it is entirely taken up 
by the absorbants, carried into the system, and very soon 
an immediate relief from pain and subsequent repose ensues. 

Usually all pain then passes away, and the next day 
there is little evidence of the operation, but sometimes a 
swelling appears upon the arms where the prick was made, 
and this occasionally forms a severe sore, lasting for a very 
considerable period, from a few days to several weeks. 

This remedy is sometimes necessary for children in case 
of accident, as from a fracture of a limb, a bad cut or inju¬ 
ry, but as a general thing, for any serious operation, we 
should prefer to have recourse to the more rapid, more 
manageable, and more agreeable, Chloroform. 

The use of anaesthetics is now so common, that it is now- 
taken without fear, and administered without hesitation. 
There are very few to whom it is not appropriate, and is 
really a far superior medicine in ordinary hands, to Opi¬ 
um in any of its forms, and the incidental deaths consequent 
upon its over-dose, or mal-administration, or the individual 
eccentricities in the constitutions of those taking it, are so 
few as render its use as little liable to do harm as the 


NARCOTICS FOR SLEEP. 337 

use of Morphine, Opium, and Paregoric by the community 
indiscriminately. 

I think I have said enough to induce parents in respect 
to their children, and adults in regard to themselves, in 
cases of protracted sleeplessness without apparent cause, to 
avoid tampering with themselves, by trying powerful opi¬ 
ates without competent advice. Such attempts are fraught 
with danger. 


INDEX 


Page 

A 

Accidents of Childhood, 226 

Acne, . . . 278 

Acquaintance with gentlemen, 204 
Albumen . . . 266 

Alchoholism, . . 219 

Amusements, . . 161 

at home, . . 186 

B 

Bathing, . . .210 

Battledore and Shuttlecock, 169 

Balls in the body, . 237 

Beds, . . 105, 330 

what made of, . 332 

wetting, . . 102, 224 

Billiards, . . 164 

Blows on head, . . 229 

Bones, broken, . . 237 

Bosoms, elfect of pressure on, 115 
Brain, concussion of, . 239 

water on, . . 290 

Breasts, injured in youth, 96 

Breeding, “ in and in,” . 47 

Bright’s Disease of Kidneys, 259, 266 
Burns, . . . 244 

Body, demands of, . 249 

C 

Candy, eating, . . 84 

Card Flaying, . . 188 

Character, how formed, . 42 

Children, nutriment for, 67 

Chin Cough, . . 297 

Cleanliness, . . 16, 100, 209 

Climacterics, . . 112 

Clothing, . . .91 

Colic, . . . 92 

Corsets, . . .96 

Coffee, ... 90 

Contagion, . . .252 

how spread, . . 275 


Convulsions, 

Page 
. 301 

Company, 

202 

Courtship, 

. 204 

Conjugal Sins, 

39, 54 

Croquet. 

. 169 

Crossness, 

92 

Croup, 

307, 310 

Cuts, 

233 

Cynanche Parotidea, 

. 318 

D 

Dancing, . 

195 

at improper periods, 

. 199 

Dietary, for children, 

82 

Diarrhoea, 

. 288 

Dreams, 

223 

Dress, 

93 

low necked, . 

95 

Drinking, excessive, . 

90 

Drowning, 

243 

Dyspepsia, 

15 

Dyphtheria, 

272 

E 

Ears, boxing of, 

. 229 

foreign bodies in, 

229 

freezing of, 

. 231 

lacerations of, 

232 

relief from pain in, 

. 230 

snapping of, . 

231 

water in, 

. 230 

Education, . , 

131 

common sense in, 

. 148 

limited by natural capacity, 

Enemies to good looks, 

135, 149 
277 

Ephelis, . 

279 

Exercises, 

. 165 

Eyes, accidents to, 

233 

inflammation of, 

. 284 

F 

Feathers, effect of sleeping 

on, 331 







INDEX. 


339 


Fencing, 

Page 

167 

Fever, Scarlet, 

263 

Fits, . 

. 301 

from anger of mother, 

54 

Fingers, grown on again, 

235 

Feet, injury to, 

99 

washing, . -* . 

101 

Food for babes, 

77 

Freckles, . 

271 

treatment of, 

. 281 

Freezing, . 

231 

G 

Gymnastics, 

. 172 

Games, 

188 

Gargles, 

- 271 

Goat’s milk, 

75 

Government of children, 

69 

Graces, 

179 

Gunpowder, injury from, 

235 

treatment of, 

236 

H 

Habits, personal, 

100, 208 

of mind, 

220 

in sleep, 

. 104 

at table, 

89 

Hair, 

. 213 

dressing for, 

214 

Head, injuries to, 

. 239 

falls on, 

306 

Hereditary traits, 
love of drink, 

38, 39, 65 

219 

Hobbies, 

. 207 

Hoops, 

97 

Horseback riding, 

. 166 

Hydrocephalus, . 

290 

Hysteria, 

. 120 

supposed case of, 

137 

Hygiene, 

21 


Lifting, 

Page 

167 

Life, result of, 

158 

social necessities of, 

203 

laws of, 

205 

Liver spots, . 

. 280 

Lock jaw, 

Longings, . # . 

303 

66, 62 

M 

Manly arts, . 

168 

Marriage, 

47 

Mormon idea of, 

48 

Masturbation, 

. 108 

Mattresses, 

330 

Measles, 

. 260 

black, 

262 

Maturity, 

67 

Maternity, 

67 

Memory, 

. 136 

Menstruation, 

. 116, 118 

care of, 

. 119 

Milk, 

73, 78 

swill, 

74 

Morbid imagination, 

223 

Mother’s physical needs, 

61 

Moth, 

Mumps, 

280 

. 318 

Music, 

186 

N 


Nightmare, . 

. 223 

Newspapers, 

180 

Novels, 

Nose,%reign bodies in 

. 178 

228 

Nursery 

• 

O 


Onanism, 

108 

cure of its effects, 

. 109 

Ophthalmia, purulent, 

294 


I 

Indian clubs, 
Inherited character, 
Itch, 

J 

Jaw, fractured, 
lock 


38 


166 
43, 56, 65 
139 


* 239 

303 


K 

Kidneys, Bright’s, disease of, 209,265 


L 

Learning, morbid, . 154 

Leneorrhoea, . . 121 


Parties, . . . 205 

dress for, . . 206 

Parentage, physical requisite for 52 
- - 277 

169, 187 
93 
23 
268 
. 253 


Pimples, 

Piano, 

Prickly heat, 

Puberty, changes at, 
Putrid sore throat, 
Pox, small, . 

R 

Race, degeneration of, 
Raw meat diet, 


49 

289 






340 


INDEX. 


Page 

Record, of family diseases, 122 

Recreation, ' . .16 

Reading, . . . 179 

of novels, . . . 182 

about one’s business, 184 

Rowing, . . . 171 

Runts, ... 53 

S 

Scalds, .... 244 

Schools, unhealthy, . 138 

books, . . . 138 

Scarlatina, . . . 263 

Sensualities, . . . 217 

Sewing machines, use of, . 169 

Sex, how affected, . . 39 

Shoes, ... 98 

Skin, care of, . . . 101 

diseases of . . 252 

Skating, ... 71 

Skipping Rope, . . 171 

Skull, fracture of, . . 241 

Society, ... 201 

Sponge beds, . . . 332 

Stimulants, . . 21,218 

Sleep, .... 321 

hours of, . . 327 

where and on what, . 329 

means for producing, 331 

Sleeplessness, . . 332 

Small pox, . . . 253 

confluent, . . 256 

black, . . .256 

Stockings, ... 98 

Spirit drinking, . . 237 

Study, over . . 140 




Summer complaint, 

Page 

. 288 

Surgery, 

26 

T 

Tea, 

90 

Teeth, 

79, 211 

powder for, 

. 212 

Teething, 

307, 324 

Teachers, 

. 138 

duty of, . 
respect due to, 

143 

. 145 

Thoughts, cheerful and healthy 177 

Throat distemper 

. 267 

Tobacco, 

219 

Toe nails. 

. 163 

Trismus Nascentium, 

303 

V 

Variola, . . 

. 257 

Varioloid, 

257 

Vice, secret, 

. 106 

Visiting, 

202 

W 

Waists, (Spanish) 

97 

Walking, 

174 

in mountains, 

. 175 

before breakfast, 

176 

Warts, . 

. 283 

Water, on the brain 

290 

closets, daily visit to 

. 104 

Whooping cough, . 

297 

White swelling, 

. 314 

Wine drinking, 

207 

Wrestling, 

. 167 

Women, in fetters, 

175 





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